Assignment on Terror Mountain
by Bob Wright
Summary: Sinister stories abound about what happens on Terrell Mountain, where people are rumored to disappear forever. Tracy and Holly figure a night on the mountain will lead to a great school newspaper story for Halloween. Instead, it will lead them into a night of terror that they may not live to tell about. NOW COMPLETED.
1. A Frightful Newspaper Story

ASSIGNMENT ON TERROR MOUNTAIN

BY

BOB WRIGHT

AUTHOR'S NOTE: All Point Horror indicia are registered trademarks of their respective copyright holders. And now, enjoy a trip to the dark side...

* * *

The sun seemed particularly bright this afternoon. Bouncing off the endless sea of autumnal reds, yellows, oranges, and other colors, it formed a beautiful checkerboard fall quilt across the valley far below. At least to an everyday person it would be beautiful, anyway. From his position at the window, staring down the mountain at the sea of fall colors, he felt impatient, uncomfortable with daytime. And besides, the time was nigh to act again tonight...

There came a knock at the door behind him. "Enter," he said solemnly, without turning around. The door creaked open. "Good morning, Your Excellency," mumbled another man's sycophantic voice, "We have prepared everything for tonight. Have we...?"

"No," he turned to face the rotund figure in the black robe, followed by another, shorter one, "But I guarantee we will soon, one way or another. We always have so far."

"You're despicable," grumbled the small robed figure darkly, "All of you," he glowered at the taller figure, "I want to go home..."

"I've told you, this IS your home now," growled his taller counterpart, cuffing him about the head, "So show some gratitude for allowing us to...!"

"Gratitude? All I have for you, him, and everyone is contempt," the shorter figure spit at the taller one's feet and stormed off. "Forgive him, Your Excellency; he's gotten harder to get along with anymore, as you might have noticed," the remaining robed figure shook his head in disgust, "He and the other one seem to be together a lot lately, and we all know how much he wants out of here too..."

"And have you made it clear to them both they will become special offerings themselves if they dare to try and leave, like the other one they associated with was?" the leader asked without turning around.

"Abundantly clear, and at least they know we're serious..."

"Good. I'll check down the mountain, and see if they can help," he picked up the phone on the nearest table and dialed a familiar number. "Yeah?" grumbled a gruff voice on the other end.

"It's me," he said calmly, "If you are planning to go out today..."

"Can't; there's still too much heat after the last time we did a favor for you," his colleague grumbled, "Unlike with you, they're actively looking for us. After hitting three weeks ago, the heat's still on. When things quiet down again..."

"I'm afraid this is the big one," he interrupted, "We absolutely must have subjects tonight; when the planets line up straight on the night of the full moon closest to All Hallows, there MUST be something to give. Otherwise...the consequences will be such that we most certainly will no longer be able to protect you."

There was a low sigh on the other end and a silence before the man answered, "OK, OK; since you and your friends've been a godsend for us after everything we've pulled, maybe we'll cruise around and see if we can find somebody. But you know, you could come out some day and..."

"Thank you," he said quickly, hanging up. "Well, they've agreed," he told the robed man, "And even if they can't work something out, perhaps we'll get lucky, and something might just wander right into our laps...

* * *

_...in social news, the annual Halloween dance is scheduled for Halloween night, this coming Monday. The Marshfield High gymnasium will be converted to a graveyard for the occasion, with music by a band yet to be determined, although rest assured, fellow Falcons, it will likely be a frightfully good choice. Looking ahead, on November fifth, there will be an alcohol awareness seminar from... _

"Well, still hard at work, are we, Tracy?" came the teasing voice from the doorway, "It is close to four by now."

"It is?" Tracy Keefe glanced up from the computer screen inside the Marshfield High newspaper office towards the clock on the wall. "Wow, I really lost track of time there, Holly. Luckily I'm almost done with my section of the next Trumpet."

"I hope so, because you know they'll be locking up the school in about ten minutes," Holly Reddick was still teasing as she leaned over Tracy's shoulder to stare at the screen. "We ought to go to the dance, you know. I know we haven't gotten any offers yet..."

"It wouldn't be right to go solo, Holly," Tracy shook her head softly, "It's just too bad everyone in our class seems to be taken already."

"If you and I didn't spend so much time in front of our computers writing, maybe we'd've been faster on the draw. Oh well," Holly sighed softly, glancing at her watch, "Again, not to press, but the next edition doesn't come out for another week, and we don't want to get locked in..."

"OK, OK," Tracy clicked the save button and started shutting down, "But you do know me, Holly; I like to finish what I start."

"Yep, good old Tracy Keefe, hardest working student reporter out there, who'd write the whole Marshfield Trumpet herself if she could," Holly cracked.

"Oh stop!" Tracy gave her a playful shove, but she was smiling. She appreciated any praise for her writing, even if it was from her best friend since they were both eight.

She tapped her fingers on the table top until the computer shut down, then slipped on her jacket and hefted her bookbag. She glanced out the window at the last bus of the day pulling out. In the window, she stared at the reflection of the rather pretty sixteen year old with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes staring back at her. "I don't know how you can't get a date, Tracy Keefe," she whispered softly to her reflection.

"Well, at least we have each other, Tracy," Holly sided up alongside her; she was fairly pretty as well, with long brown hair and warm brown eyes, and a million dollar smile, "And as long as we have each other as best friends, what more do we need?"

"Oh who knows?" Tracy chuckled, "Shall we, then?"

"After you," Holly slipped on her jean jacket and hefted her own bookbag. Tracy led her friend out the newspaper office door, closing it behind them. She'd been the Trumpet's social editor since freshman year, bringing the student body at Marshfield High the news of what to expect in the near future, and now in her junior year was the sole writer for the subject. Holly had a more exciting job with the sports division, where she helped promote each team's progress (she had experience, being part of the volleyball team as well). Although a more prestigious job, Tracy couldn't feel jealous; she and Holly were too close of friends for her to fall into that trap. Writing had always been her favorite occupation in life; indeed, she dreamed of being a professional reporter some day. For Holly, it was more recreational, but she enjoyed it as well. And Tracy was glad to share the experience.

The halls were mostly empty as they bustled towards the front door. Banners overhead by the door eagerly promoted the Halloween dance coming up the next week. "Hard to believe it's almost Halloween already," Holly remarked, amazed, "Time goes so quickly anymore. Anyway, if we don't go to the dance, we really ought to do something special that night."

"I know, but what?" Tracy mused as they walked out the front door, "Hayrides aren't scary enough; neither are pumpkin patches, and..."

She came a stop, and a wry smile spread across her face. "Well, since it is Halloween, and if we want a scary story for the paper...yeah, that'll work..."

"What, what'll work?" Holly inquired.

"Holly, how'd you like it if you and I showed ourselves to be braver and more of risk takers than everyone here thinks?" the blonde asked her with a grin, "How about we take a ride up...Terror Mountain."

"Hold on, what?" Holly frowned, "What about Terrell Mountain...?"

"We've heard the stories since we were kids," Tracy dramatically climbed halfway up a No Parking sign near the fire lane, "Terrell Mountain Road, reportedly the road to doom, for cars that drive up it towards the top disappear, never to be seen again. Those that do come back tell stories of seeing ghosts alongside the highways, ghosts who come right at them, making Terrell Mountain a practical 'Terror Mountain.' And of course at the top of the mountain, the former state insane asylum, where the doctors were supposed to have performed terrible experiments on the inmates, at least before it burned down in a lightning storm, killing everyone inside-only they never left the remains of the building..."

"Hold, hold, time out, Tracy," Holly hastily made the time out gesture, frowning even more deeply, "You know that's private property up there; no trespassing allowed. Who knows who might be watching the asylum? The last thing I want is to get in trouble with the law. And who knows if the building's safe if it isn't guarded...?"

"Well who's to say anyone's going to be up there; the mountain's practically deserted anyway these days from what I hear; nobody lives along Terrell Mountain Road..."

"They used to, and I'm sure you might have heard some of the other stories, Tracy, about how, over the years, the families slowly disappeared without explanation either," the brunette looked outright nervous now. "And again, the insane asylum's been abandoned for close to fifty years; I don't want to get buried alive if it crumbles around us..."

"Well we don't have to go all the way in, Holly; just enough to be able to truthfully say we went in there and survived. It'll be a tremendous scary story for the Trumpet for Halloween; we entered the belly of the beast and lived to tell the tale," Tracy swept her arm forward in a grand gesture, "And if you're worried about getting in trouble, no one says we have to write it that we went in; craft it as a fictional story, tell Mrs. Hamblen we wanted to write a ghost story for our readers, and fictionalize it just enough so it passes, so come up with a good surrogate name for yourself. And besides, everyone reading it'll know under the text that we went in there despite the horror stories, and then we won't just be a pair of bookworm writers; we'll be people with standing. Now wouldn't that be worth it, to get some fifteen minutes of fame here in Marshfield High?"

"Uh, well, um..." Holly stammered, thinking hard, "I see your point, Tracy, and yeah, it would be a nice adventure if nothing else, and a nice story...I guess if we craft a fictional tale out of it for entertainment...but Tracy, you do know they've said some terrible things about what happened up there, and what might still be up there...?"

"Holly, Holly, don't tell me you actually believe there could be real ghosts up there?" Tracy practically laughed out loud.

"Well, no, actually, but...suppose something dangerous actually would happen..."

"Hey, we'll just be careful, I promise; I wouldn't want to do anything to endanger my best friend, honest," Tracy put a hand on the brunette's shoulder, "It'll only be two or three hours at the most, and when we get to the asylum, we'll just be in and out, I promise. I think it's a great story to write, but I won't be reckless; I'm not stupid."

Holly thought it over carefully, then nodded. "OK, we'll run with it," she agreed, "And luckily, my parents won't be back from Dad's conference in the capital until about midnight, so I'll at least be back home by then."

"See, this'll be good for both of us," Tracy rubbed her friend's shoulder, "I'll pick you up around six thirty, and we'll be up there right after sunset and down before nine. And I'll be in luck too; my parents are going out for their twentieth anniversary and won't be back till about ten, so no one'll know anything happened."

"I hope not," Holly mumbled out loud as the two of them bustled for their cars in the school parking lot, "Because there's still a risk something could go wrong..."

"Oh don't let the legends get to you, Holly," Tracy chuckled again, "What could possibly happen...?"


	2. Alone on the Mountain

The sun was starting to sink heavily towards the horizon when Tracy pulled up in front of the Reddick house out six thirty and blew the horn. Holly came rushing out the door, a camera and backpack in hand. "You're sure punctual," she told the blonde, slipping into the passenger seat and locking the seatbelt on, "That's pretty much on the dot. I left my parents a note saying I'm sleeping over your house tonight; that gives us a little bit of leeway if they come back early, and I know your folks wouldn't mind it."

"Nope, and if they come back early, I'll just say we went cruising around for a while," Tracy pulled back out into traffic and turned right onto the highway, "So we get this in without having to lie at all."

"And you promise, though, we won't be more than three hours or so?" Holly raised an eyebrow, her eyes glancing up to the hills, where the sun started dipping below the horizon.

"Relax, Holly, this is going to be fun," Tracy assured her, switching on the headlights, "When we look back at this, you're going to say this was one of the best nights of our life, and it was all for a good cause."

"I hope so," the brunette still seemed unsure. Nonetheless, she remained quiet as Marshfield disappeared behind them and the woods exploded on either side of the highway, making the rising darkness all the more darker. The glow was starting to vanish from the sky when, five miles outside of town, Tracy slowed down and activated the turn signal. Here we are, the highway to acceptance," she declared grandly, glancing out the window at the road sign at the crossroads reading TERRELL MOUNTAIN ROAD-although with "TERROR" spraypainted over Terrell in large red letters by some vandal. A large yellow sign reading NO OUTLET on the other side of the road also had been graffitied with NO ONE COMES OUT ALIVE. Tracy merely chuckled as she turned up the road. "It's the perfect Halloween setting; I love it," she proclaimed out loud.

"So, then, what's our first plan of action?" Holly shuffled about in her seat.

"Hang out about midway up the road for about a half hour or so, and see if any ghosts come along; who knows, maybe we'll get lucky," the blonde told her, "Then we'll head up to the asylum, be in and out, and head back to my house with a good story to write and no one the wiser. No one'll even know we're here."

* * *

"Visitors," he mused with a dark grin, watching the black and white footage of the car driving up Terrell Mountain Road on the bank of monitors along the wall of his office, "The timing couldn't be better..."

He bustled back towards his desk and pressed an intercom button. "Attention, bretheren; begin the preparations," he announced loudly, "We have a potential offering coming into our domain. Brother Imperio, report here."

He turned his attention back to the monitors as the car continued up the mountain, occasionally shifting to another screen. The door opened behind him after a few minutes, and his colleague he'd had a word with earlier in the day came bustling in. "We have someone, Your Excellency?" he asked.

"See for yourself," he pointed at the footage on the monitors. "Wonderful," his underling rubbed his hands eagerly, "This will help, someone coming right into our hands. Still, we should tell Noxen; he and his cohorts are still out there looking..."

"Well, perhaps they'll bring us more in addition to plying their own trade further. Let's see what we've got here," he pushed some buttons on his desk, switching a few of the monitors to a more street-level few. One of them offered a clear view into the car as it drove past the camera's location. "Hmm, a pair of teenagers," the henchman mused, "Wonder what they're doing up here for...now what?" he wondered out loud as the car came to a stop along the side of the road, "What do you suppose they're doing, Your Excellency?"

"It doesn't matter, Brother Imperio; they're up here, and they won't be going back down the mountain," he said darkly, not looking his underling in the face, "They should serve the purpose nicely if Noxen fails to bring anyone else."

"All right then, I'll gather up some Brothers and bring them in..."

"No, let them come to us. We can have some fun first," he trudged towards a tall safe, twisted the dial to open it, and withdrew a long, weathered staff, "Clearly, they have no idea what we have on this mountain to utilize. Let's cause some fear..."

* * *

"Care for some chocolate?" Holly extended a candy bar towards Tracy, "I brought some to snack on."

"Certainly," Tracy broke off half of the bar and chewed on it. She shifted around in her seat, staring intently up the road, "Let's see if anything happens to pop up here," she said out loud with more than a little anticipation in her voice.

"Tell me again what exactly we're looking for here, Tracy?" Holly asked with a nervous edge in her voice.

"Oh you've heard the tale, Holly," Tracy swelled up again to deliver the information as if on stage, "When the asylum burned down, several of the inmates escaped and ran down the road on fire, eventually falling down dead anyway. It's said on the right nights, you can still see their spirits running down the road, begging for help."

"Oh yeah, I remember now," Holly said softly, biting hard on her half of the chocolate bar. "Not to complain, but what if nothing happens at all?" she had to ask, "It'll be a little hard to write a fictional Halloween story with nothing to go on."

"Well, we'll improvise of course; there's really..." Tracy stopped and shivered as a strong blast of wind blew through the trees, and likewise her car's open windows. "Whoo, it's sure getting chillier out than I thought," she remarked, wrapping her jacket more tightly around herself.

"Totally," Holly agreed, also pulling her jean jacket more tightly around herself, "How about some heat? This wind is rather cold."

"Fresh heat, coming right up," Tracy turned the key in the ignition, only to have the engine sputter and fail. "Huh?" she frowned, turning the key hard again. The engine sputtered again, then completely died. "What is this?" the blonde frowned, opening the driver's side door, "Pop the hood for me, Holly."

Holly obligingly pulled the release level for her friend. She huddled down in the seat, trying to stay warm against the still-blowing wind, watching through the windshield as Tracy lifted the hood. "What does it look like?" she asked, concerned.

"Everything looks normal as far as I can see. Try it again," Tracy asked her. Holly turned the key hard, but the engine only managed a weak cough, then went silent, even though she turned the key repeatedly. "Great!" the brunette shouted out loud, climbing out of the car herself, "Just like the stupid piece of junk to go dead when we don't need it to!"

She gave the nearest tire a hard kick. "OK, don't get upset, Holly," Tracy tried to calm her, "It's not the end of the world..."

"But it does mean we'll have to call a tow truck to get us down, and then our parents'll know we were up here, and we'll have hell to pay!" Holly wasn't placated, "Why did it have to choose to not work now!?"

"I don't know either," Tracy was extremely puzzled, "It's only five years old, and it was just inspected three months ago. Well, maybe it's just temporary. Let's go for a little walk and see what else we can find."

"I'll tell you what we'll find; an empty mountain, no ghosts, and a lot of egg on our face not to mention perhaps a pair of groundings," Holly grumbled softly, "I think we'd..."

She went silent as what sounded like a low howl of some kind-a menacingly low howl-rumbled through the bushes up the embankment above the car. "Of course, a walk would do us good too," the brunette gulped, "And we aren't too far from the asylum."

"Yeah," Tracy looked a little unnerved by the ominous howl, but quickly shook her head, "Flashlights are under the dashboard," she told her friend, who hastily dug them out, "Maybe once we're done at the asylum and come back, it'll work again."

She took one of the flashlights from Holly and switched it on, then locked her car up. "Let's remember where we parked," she told Holly jokingly as they started up the road, flicking aside flying leaves that were peeling off the trees all around them.

"Very funny," Holly snorted, jerking her flashlight towards the bushes where the howl had come from, "Let's hope this is the last snag on this trip."

* * *

"Oh but it isn't," he laughed inside his office, staff in hand, watching the two girls walk up the road, "Rest assured, neither of you has seen anything yet..."


	3. Creatures and Crooks

"Got the camera ready, in case we get to take a picture of something out of the ordinary?" Tracy asked Holly as they walked up the road towards the asylum, still about a quarter of a mile away up the mountain.

"Oh believe me, it's ready," Holly shivered again as another sharp and cold burst of wind rustled through the shadowy, seemingly grasping tree branches arcing over the road above them. "Speaking of ready," she said quickly, looking eager to get onto another subject, "Are you ready for the senior appreciation night game against Slaytondale next Friday? I was planning to go to that..."

"Might as well-and if we get this story done right, perhaps we'll be popular enough to get a seat with the in-crowd," Tracy predicted confidently. "By the way," she asked the brunette with a wry, knowing grin, "How'd the interview with Steve Munley go? I know you were really, really looking forward to it for a while..."

"Don't bother mentioning it, Tracy; he turned out to be a complete, self-centered jerk; I don't know what I did see in him," Holly grumbled, "All through the interview, he went on and on about how great he was, until I was totally..."

She lurched to a stop and let out a sudden gasp, the beam of her flashlight aimed at a nearby tree. "What, what is it?" Tracy eagerly thrust her own flashlight in that direction-then sighed. "It's just a tree, Holly," she shook her head.

"It looked...like a skull there for a moment, Tracy," Holly took deep breaths to regain her composure, and indeed, with the light shining on it, the gnarled bark did vaguely have the outline of a skull.

"Oh well," Tracy shrugged, "Maybe something else will pop up a little further up."

"Mmm," Holly nodded softly, shivering in another cold blast of wind. "Another abandoned farmhouse," she could just make out the outline of a low building to their right a bit back from Terrell Mountain Road, "That's the third one since we left the car. In over ten years, a dozen families that used to live along this road have either disappeared or moved out without warning. If I didn't know any better, I'd say something's driving them away."

"Well, when you live on a mountain that's rumored to be haunted, you take the..." Tracy abruptly stopped midsentence, staring intently at her flashlight beam, which was aimed to the top of a small hill on the right side of the road. "Don't scream or panic, Holly," she told her best friend solemnly, "But I think that's a human skull up there on that hill."

"A what!?" Holly went rather pale. "Tracy, wait, don't...!" she cried futilely to the blonde, who eagerly scrambled up the hill-and couldn't help gasping herself when she saw the full extent of what lay before her. "Oh my," she mused softly. "Holly, come bring that camera," she called down to the brunette, "I think whoever this is may have been murdered."

"What!?" Holly nervously approached the body-and jammed her fist into her mouth to keep from screaming. The glaring white skeleton before them on the ground was partially burned, and was cracked at the neck, hinting the person's throat had been slit. "Oh my God," Holly whimpered, her eyes very wide, "Who did this...!?"

"Look, there's more over here," Tracy dropped to her knees and started scraping away at the dirt. Sure enough, the empty eye sockets of another skull emerged from the earth after a few scrapes, also partially burned and with its neck broken. A third appeared when she scraped at another location. "This is big, Holly, this is really big," she mused solemnly, "Give me the camera."

Holly numbly handed it to her. "We've got to tell the cops about this, Tracy; let's mark this place and get get somebody, before..." she started to say, when suddenly, the same ominous growl from when they'd been by their car back down the mountain rose up very close behind them. "What was that!?" she gulped, rising up very slowly, "It's right behind us, Tracy...!"

"It's probably something..." Tracy turned and thrust her flashlight towards the sound-and gasped in shock herself. For the two of them were staring right at a huge and horrible creature they'd never seen before...one with a high, brown arched back, sharp claws, long teeth almost like fangs, and deep red eyes. It was growling loudly, and it was clear only the fact it had been momentarily blinded by the flashlight beam was why the girls hadn't been attacked. With an unearthly roar, it suddenly started forward. "RUN!" Tracy shrieked, seizing Holly by the arm and charging head-on through the brush. The creature could be heard huffing loudly behind them, growling. "What is that thing!?" Holly all but screamed.

"I don't know and I don't want to find...AAAAAHHH!" Tracy gasped as it swiped at her from behind, its claws slashing slightly off her jacket from behind. The woods stretched on and on before them into the darkness, with no sign of an easy escape. The creature was still right behind them, still snarling loudly as it knocked bushes over in its pursuit of the girls. "We can't just run forever, Tracy!" Holly gasped between breaths, "What do we do!?"

"I'm thinking...!" Tracy saw a low hanging tree branch on a large tree directly in front of them. "On the count of three, jump for that branch and then keep climbing up!" she shouted to her friend as they approached it, "One, two, THREE!"

The two of them leaped in unison and seized hold of the branch. With loud shrieks, they swung themselves up onto it as the creature jumped after them and just missed them, nipping at their heels. "Up, up, up!" Tracy seized the next branch up, pulled herself up, and yanked Holly up as well as the beast leaped again and just missed snapping onto her leg. The two of them kept climbing as fast as they could, and fortunately, the branches continued to hold their weight. "OK, this is good, I think," the blonde announced breathlessly when they reached a rather thick branch about two thirds of the way up the tree. They looked down to see the creature circling below, its eyes still glowing in the dark, growling and snapping at the tree. But the girls were safely out of range now. "What now?" Holly sighed in relief.

"Wait till it heads off; I think I see the asylum from here," Tracy squinted through the trees, where the dilapidated building was visibly close.

"Can't we just say enough is enough!? Finding skeletons and running into this thing was more than enough excitement for...whoa!" Holly quickly grabbed hold of the nearest small branch as the beast rammed hard into the tree. But this proved to be its last offensive move, as it growled again and rushed off into the bushes. "Wait for it..." Tracy whispered, holding up her hand. A tense five minutes later, in which the creature did not return, she nodded and said, "OK, coast is clear."

"You sure about that?" Holly was much less certainly as she climbed down the tree after her friend, "It came up behind us without any warning or notice; who's to say it won't again. I say we just head back to the car, try and get it started, and get off this...hey, wait!" she rushed after Tracy, who bustled rapidly through the grove into the clearing at the very top of the mountain. The former insane asylum loomed before them in the night, cracked and crumbling in the weak moonlight. The courtyard was heavily overgrown with vines, as were some of the walls. "Here we are," Tracy proclaimed, staring grandly at the crumbling building, "Supposedly the most haunted building in the county."

"Yeah, I've heard the stories," Holly shivered, and this time not due to the cold, "Whatever you want to do, Tracy, let's get it done quickly, before..."

"Hold on," Tracy took hold of her hand and pointed up at the former asylum, "That looks like a light up there in that window..."

"Where?" Holly blinked. Hold on..." she mused, squinting at the window. Sure enough, it seemed to be lit up. "Nah, can't be," she shook her head, "It's got to be a reflection of the moonlight or something..."

"No way; that's an internal light," Tracy said firmly, "Something's going on in there. Let's go check it out."

She strode firmly towards the gate. "Now hold on, Tracy, let's not get overexcited here," Holly protested, rushing after her, "So what if someone's in there; it's probably just some hobo looking for a place to spend the night or something, and if so, he probably wouldn't want to be disturbed..."

"On the other hand, they say the asylum's just crawling with ghosts..." Tracy all but laughed, pushing the gate open despite its terrible creaking and the very large NO TRESPASSING signs on either side of the gate.

"But what if it's crawling with more of whatever chased after us back there!?" the brunette wasn't placated, "Come on, Tracy, you're getting too overzealous now; this whole project was a little fun at first, but now I'm starting to get a little freaked out. I say we just get out of here and just come up with the story with what we have so far, before we spend too long up here and land in hot water with our folks for..."

She suddenly stopped and held up her hand. "Hold on, Tracy, that sounds like a truck of some kind coming up the road," she announced to her friend, glancing backwards down Terrell Mountain Road. And sure enough, the loud hum of an engine could be heard getting closer and closer. "What is this?" Tracy frowned, "No one has any reason to come up here..."

"Maybe it's the cops; they found our car, and we're in deep trouble for trespassing," Holly gulped.

"Well, maybe they could give us a jump start if we tell them we broke down, and then be on our...wait, there they are. Where are they going?" Tracy squinted down the road. Two sharp points of headlights had exploded in the distance, then made a sharp turn to the left, where they receded out of sight. "They're going to that last farmhouse on the way up," Tracy mumbled softly, "What's there that they would go there? Come on, let's check it out."

"Come on, Tracy, I'm not sure that's a good idea," Holly shook her head firmly, "We've got what we wanted, we got a skeleton and some strange beast; that's got to be enough for the Trumpet story. And suppose these are the people who murdered whoever those people were? We'd be walking into a hornet's nest..."

"Not if we're careful not to be seen," Tracy countered firmly, a look a strong determination on her face, "And if these are the murderers, it would help to get their photos for the police. Now come on, if we play it smart, there's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing? What if that thing that chased us comes back while we're looking in? Tracy!" Holly protested to her friend, walking off with determination, "Tracy, let's think this over...!"

* * *

"Blast, they didn't come in," Imperio mumbled, watching the girls walking away from the asylum, inside the courtyard of which loud rustling sounds could be heard.

"Not to worry, Brother Imperio, it appears Noxen came back at the right time anyway," his leader, "Might as well have him have the honor in this case; it'll make him feel more..."

There came a low and sudden creaking of floorboards from outside his office. He turned to Imperio, put a finger to his lips, and walked slowly towards the door, which he threw open in a flash. Another smaller robed figure fell over backwards in surprise in the asylum's hallway. "Aha, I should have known you'd be listening in!" he snapped, hauling the youth up by the collar, "How long have you been out here!?"

"Long enough to see you're setting up another 'offering!'" the youth shouted defiantly back in a different voice than the one who'd been with Imperio earlier, "Let this one go; they're just two average girls, and they're not hurting you! Isn't enough enough for you!?"

"No, not on a night when a great tribute to Bastor must be made," the leader barked at him, "And I swear, you will do nothing to interfere like you tried to do last time, or perhaps you will get to meet Bastor too. Is that what you want!?"

The youth pulled his collar away. "It's just never enough for you," he growled, stepping backwards, "Everyone's a victim to you. I wish we'd never made that wrong turn up here...!"

"Well too bad, you and your mother did, and now we're your family for the rest of your life, however long that may be from here on," Imperio growled at him, "Now get out of here, and don't try and ruin this. And you'd better stop trying to fill my foolish nephew's head with rebellious thoughts, or...!"

"I'm not doing anything, _Uncle Brett_; Max has had enough of you keeping him as a slave without me having to say anything," the youth growled, stomping off. "I knew we should have offered him up too when he first came to us, Your Excellency," Imperio muttered in disgust.

"We must take in new recruits to keep our numbers strong, Brother Imperio; you know that as well as I," the leader shook his head, "And if that includes holding them against their will, so be it. But if he continues to be a thorn, perhaps it would be best to introduce him to Bastor. But first..."

He pressed the button on his desk to switch the monitor to one showing Holly and Tracy walking towards the camera in question. "As I said, doing it this way should stoke Noxen's ego," he confided to his adjutant confidently, "Make him think he's clever enough. And for them, they'll think the danger they're in is less than it actually is, at least at first..."

* * *

"OK, down," Tracy whispered to Holly, dropping to her knees and crawling her way through the bushes close to the farmhouse in question. Voices could be heard from inside the farmhouse, in the window of which a light was gleaming, but they were still too low too hear clearly enough. Tracy pushed the bushes open slightly to get a clearer view of the large vehicle parked in front of the farmhouse. "Varney Security armored car," she mused softly, "This looks like something big, Holly."

"Remember on the news, the string of robberies in the county: banks, jewelry stores, convenient stores? This might be it," Holly mused softly, her camera in hand.

"Yeah, I remember; I do want to be a reporter when I graduate. Get it ready," Tracy gestured at the camera, "But make sure the flash is off, and let's stay quiet."

"Same to you," Holly warned gently. The two of them crawled towards the farmhouse window and cautiously peered in. Three men were unloading bags of precious jewels of every size and color. "...biggest haul yet," a shorter, thinner man with glasses was exhorting excitedly, not noticing Holly raise her camera and start taking photos of them.

"Nah, I think the bank job two weeks ago was bigger," countered a large, muscular man.

"Doesn't matter, we're still pretty good again, and safe knowing they can't get us. Bring the guard in, Moose," the apparently leader, a squat, mustached man, ordered the large man, who nodded and bustled towards the door. Tracy and Holly themselves quickly rushed around the corner of the farmhouse, getting out of sight seconds before he emerged. They leaned around the corner and watched him go into the back of the armored car-then had to cover their mouths to keep from screaming as he dragged out the body of a shot-dead security guard. "Oh my God...!" Holly whimpered weakly once he was out of sight.

"I know," Tracy was grim herself. They heard the thump of the body on the living room floor and cautiously made their way back to the window, where Holly hastily got some pictures of the dead guard before he was hastily wrapped in a tarp by the two more normal sized men. "Shame we couldn't have taken him alive, Joe," the bespectacled man was grumbling.

"You were the one that had to pull the trigger, Norman," the leader glared at him, rolling the dead body with his foot behind the sofa.

"He was going to shoot; it was self-defense, honest!" Norman protested, "Well, we'll just tell them when they call that we tried but couldn't get someone for them. Do you suppose they're serious about this being the big one, that they need...?"

"Who knows, Norman; all I know is, I'm grateful for their protection, however they do it," Joe said firmly, "They'll just have to do without, but if we..."

"What are they going on about?" Holly whispered to Tracy, looking confused.

"I have no idea, but I think that's good enough with evidence," Tracy whispered to Holly, who immediately stopped taking pictures and ducked back down under the ledge, "Let's get out of here and try and get to the police before..."

Suddenly, without warning, a hand was clamped over each girl's mouth from behind, and they were lifted high off the ground. "Gotcha," growled the man named Moose, who Tracy realized too late hadn't been seen in a few minutes," I thought I heard something clicking out here. You two just got yourselves in big, big trouble..."


	4. Prisoners

Moaning in fear, Tracy and Holly kicked and squirmed in Moose's arms, but he was too strong for them. "Hey Joe, I just caught a pair of nosy teenagers snooping around out here," he called into the farmhouse.

The door swung open wide. "Hmm," the leader named Joe mused, staring Tracy and Holly down coldly, "What would two lovely girls like yourselves be doing out here on a night like this?" he asked them sharply, "Especially since there's nothing on this mountain for you to..."

"Please, sir, our car won't start; you probably saw it coming up the mountain," Tracy protested once the hand was removed from her mouth, and she and Holly were lowered to the ground, although Moose now twisted their arms behind their backs. "We, uh..." she fumbled for the best lie to tell, "We took a wrong turn, and the engine died..."

"They were looking in the window, Joe; they saw the jewels and the guard's body," Moose said firmly, gesturing at Holly's camera lying on the ground at their feet, "Even if they're telling the truth, they're spies."

"We didn't see anything!" Holly protested, trying to twist free, "We're sorry to have bothered you; if you'll just let us go now, we'll be on our way, and we promise we won't say anything about anything."

"Yeah, scout's honor; nobody will know anything," Tracy nodded firmly. The man named Joe waved his other colleague named Norman close and whispered to him for a minute or too, although Tracy couldn't tell what they were saying. "We didn't see anything..." she repeated loudly.

"Sorry, but I have no reason to believe you," it was a cold look on Joe's face as he turned to face her and Holly, "You still saw too much, even if you aren't lying to me. And nosy girls who see too much have to be punished."

"Listen, there's no need to do anything; we swear on our lives we won't tell anyone, not our families, not the police, anyone!" Holly begged desperately, "Our car broke down, I swear, we're just...!"

"Enough," he slapped her hard across the face, then pulled her away from Moose and flung her into Norman's arms, "You and your friend aren't going anywhere. Take them into the kitchen," he ordered his colleagues, "For now, we're going to tie them up for their own good."

"Come on, this isn't funny!" Tracy protested, kicking hard at Moose's shin to no avail, "You can't keep us prisoner here!"

"Oh yes we can," he snickered in her face, "And maybe we'll be doing a whole lot worse to you two girls before the night is done."

Both Tracy and Holly kicked and squirmed and struggled like crazy as they were dragged into the farmhouse, but their captors retained an almost iron grip on their arms. They were hauled into the kitchen and flung into a pair of chairs on opposite sides of the kitchen table. The men immediately hefted several lengths of rope. "Please don't do this!" Holly looked terrified as her arms were pulled roughly behind the chair, and her wrists tied tightly together, "Just lock us in a closet if you have to; you don't need to tie us up like this!"

"We won't try to escape...ow!" Tracy grimaced as her own wrists were tied behind her chair as well, "We're only sixteen; we're not worth the...!"

She whimpered as Joe slapped her across the face as well. "Here, gag the brats," he barked at his partners, pulling out a pair of large white cloths and handing them to his henchmen, "Better make absolutely sure they stay good and quiet."

"No you won't; HELP!" Tracy screamed as loud as she could towards the window, trying to jerk her chair away from Norman, who was lowering the cloth in his hands towards her face, "HELP, WE'RE BEING...MMMMMMMM!"

She was firmly gagged with the cloth despite her efforts to escape it, and across from her, Holly was unable to avoid being gagged herself. Numb, Tracy stared blankly at her equally blank friend as the two of them were tied firmly from head to toe to their chairs in no time flat. "There we go, this should keep you two out of trouble for now," Norman snickered, rifling through Tracy's jean pockets once he'd finished tying her up and pulling out both her cell phone and her car keys, handing them both to Joe. "Now, you two just sit tight and behave yourselves, unless you want it worse than you have it now."

"Stay here and keep an eye on them, Norman," Joe ordered him, taking Holly's cell phone from Moose, then tossing the larger criminal Tracy's car keys, "Moose, go get their car and get it off the road. I'm going to go make a little call that might decide what to do with our uninvited guests."

He walked out the kitchen door with Moose. Tracy and Holly exchanged horrified glances and started thrashing around in their chairs, even though Norman was now seated at the head of the table with a shotgun aimed right at them. It was clear they had to get out of this mess quickly, or they'd be in even hotter water...

* * *

"...yeah, it's me," Joe's voice came over the receiver in the leader's office inside the former insane asylum, "The bad news is, we couldn't pick up anyone for you alive when we hit the jewelry store; the police responded too quickly for us to take anyone alive. But the good news is, we just caught a pair of snooping teenage girls hanging around the farm; they're nice and tied up now, and they're yours if you want them."

"Oh I think two teens will suffice nicely, Noxen," he said with a knowing grin, "Good work; you've proved yourself nicely."

"Say, is it really serious what you said about tonight being...?" Joe started to say before he was hung up on. "Brother Imperio, we officially have two offerings to make," he eagerly told his adjutant, "Bastor will be pleased after all. Send the word to the bretheren; prepare the chamber for the ritual. Meanwhile, gather several bretheren and go pick up our guests-and begin the first phase of the offering."

"Yes, Your Excellency," Imperio started to leave, then turned, "If the troublemaker and my...?"

"They will not, because the troublesome one will go with you to pick them up; thus if he causes any difficulty, you may punish him as well as you see fit."

"Yes, Your Excellency," Imperio bowed and left, closing the door behind him. The leader casually walked over to the nearest closet door and thrust it open...

...revealing a statue of a hideous being, part man, part bull, and part wolf, with large ruby red eyes, large horns, and hairy canine legs. "Oh mighty Bastor," he mumbled reverently, falling to his knees before the statue, "We have ready for you an offering-two youths. They are young and lovely, and will delight you on this night when you need sustinance the most. I hope you will find this acceptable."

The statue's eyes flashed brightly red for a few seconds. "I felt you would be pleased, mighty Bastor," he said with a smile, "We shall bring them here and prepare them for you..."

* * *

_"Please, please, give me some slack to work with!"_ Tracy begged the ropes on her wrists, pulling on them for all it was worth. They remained bone-crushingly tight, however, as did all the ropes holding her to her chair, and although she'd been struggling hard for at least an hour now (if not, it certainly seemed that way to her), they hadn't loosened one bit as far as she could tell. Indeed, her watch now beeped nine o'clock behind her back; given the drive time coming back from their anniversary celebration, it would be at least another hour and a half before her parents got home and realized something was wrong-and another three hours before the Reddicks returned if Holly's earlier estimation was correct. They were on their own and in deep trouble.

Still, she had to keep trying to get free, she knew in the pit of her stomach. She had all the incentive she needed in the large shotgun Norman was pointing alternatingly at her and Holly, who was jerking her chair wildly from side to side in terror, struggling like crazy. Tracy felt horribly guilty in the pit of her stomach; she'd promised Holly nothing would go wrong at all, and now her curiosity had gotten them both kidnapped, facing who knew what. Joe had made a phone call to someone a half hour or so ago; Tracy hadn't been able to make out much of what he'd said, but from his tone, she knew it didn't bode well for the two of them, whatever it was.

Moaning loudly into her gag, she twisted her upper body wildly around, trying desperately to find any slack. It was terrifying to be tied up and gagged like this, something even mystery books couldn't make as clear as real life now did. Tracy was starting to lose feeling in her hands, and the ropes dug deep into the rest of her body, making it impossible to move at all. And the gag was just as tight over her mouth, reducing her to making muffled animal-sounding noises, and hadn't loosened either even though she'd rolled her head around wildly trying to shake the terrible cloth off. Yes, she rued, it was a terrible experience to be a hostage.

And not least of all was Norman, who every now and then would rise from his position at the head of the table and check both girls' ropes to make sure they were still secured firmly. Then he'd lean back in his chair and point his gun back and forth between the both of them. Tracy couldn't bear having the gun pointed right at her, and clearly neither could Holly, who'd whimpered every time it had been aimed right at her.

_"Oh, why'd I have to be so bent on getting a story!?"_ she lamented, feeling guilty now about her zeal to get something for the school newspaper, "_Now I've put the both of us in terrible danger...!" _

From outside the window came the sudden roar of the creature that had chased Holly and herself, making both girls jump in shock. Norman, however, seemed nonplussed. "Out hunting again, I see," he mused out loud, staring out the window, "Good thing he didn't get you two before we did," he turned towards the girls, "If you've had a run-in with him, that's the banetra-a special creation of some friends of ours who dabble a bit in experimentation. He roams the woods, eating anything in his path; real vicious guy too. But he seems to know who his friends are, and so we've been safe for a while now ourselves."

He chuckled darkly. "We chose to come up here for a hideout, knowing how isolated it was," he told his prisoners, "THEY found us, and wanted to use us for their purposes. I'll admit I was scared-we all were-and we begged like little girls to be spared, that we'd work for them if they work for us. And they agreed, and so, with every heist we've pulled since then, we've tried to bring them at least one live subject for their purposes. And now, girls, it's going to be your turn, once they get down here."

"Did you have to spoil the surprise for them, Norman?" Joe remanded him as he entered the kitchen, "Oh well, guess it doesn't matter; they should be here very shortly-ah, speak of the devil," he exclaimed at the sound of car doors slamming out front. "OK, ladies," he told Tracy and Holly darkly, flipping off the lights, "Like Norman here just said, I'm turning you over to some friends of ours; we've been helping them on the side in between our regular job in exchange for their protection, a pretty good deal if I do say so myself. They're very ritualistic people, so don't be alarmed if they seem a bit strange. "In here, in the kitchen," he called towards the front door as it opened. Immediately, loud chants could be heard. A cold chill shot up Tracy's spine. Added up to everything their kidnappers had already said, it appeared they were about to meet some unpleasant people.

The chanting got louder and louder, and a weak light could be seen reflecting off the living room walls. Moments later, Tracy's eyes went wide as a procession of figures in black robes and hoods and glowing green demon masks, as they could best be described, marched in solemn procession into the kitchen. The frontmost one was carrying a flaming torch, and the others various other items she couldn't make out in the weak light. Holly screamed in terror into her gag at the sight of them, and it was taking all of Tracy's composure not to do the same, particularly since the figures were staring right at the two of them. She noticed, however, that a sizably smaller robed figure in the back of the line was leaning forward and staring at her with what she thought was sympathy; it was hard to tell for sure in the darkness. But her mind was taken elsewhere as the figures began chanting louder in a strange language, one that seemed to use the word "bastor" a lot. _"What_ _exactly's going on here!?"_ she wondered to herself, not sure she really wanted to know.

She got her answer as one of the men started throwing salt or ashes of some kind in the air over Holly and herself. Tracy coughed hard, not liking this one bit. But then, she felt the left sleeves of her jacket and sweater being pushed up behind her back. Moments later, she shrieked into her gag in pain at the top of her lungs as a knife slashed deep into her arm. Across from her, Holly was shrieking in agony as well as the ritual was done to her too. "Don't panic, girls; they just need your blood for the ceremony later on," Joe said to them in the dark matter of factually, "These are standard preparations for anyone."

_"Preparations!?"_ Tracy's blood froze completely through in terror at the dark thought. Were she and Holly being prepared to be...to be...sacrificed!? She felt the warm drenching of her blood from the slash point being spread across her forehead, as well as makeup of some other kind. But then she lost all vision as a blindfold was pulled over her eyes from behind and tied into place just as tightly as the gag; across from her, Holly let out another shriek, hinting she was being blindfolded as well. "Sorry, ladies, but they'd like the two of you to be surprised from here on," Joe said out loud. "Hope they'll suffice for you for whatever you're doing tonight," he could be heard saying to one of the robed figures.

"Yes, they will do quite nicely," one of the figures said in plain English, "Well, we'd better get them there; our time is limited," he said again, then started barking orders in the strange language. "So long, girls," Joe told the two of them, "Now you're going to see exactly what happens to snooping young detectives around these parts-they go and meet The Mighty Bastor."

"Speak reverently of Bastor," the English-speaking cult member upbraided him, "He hears all who utter his name."

Tracy shrieked as she felt herself being picked up, chair and all. Still chanting in the strange language, she and Holly, who she could hear shrieking in terror behind her, being carried towards the door. She felt weak and meek; it appeared they were about to be put through some terrible demonic ceremony of some kind.

_"I guess this really is 'Terror Mountain,' then,"_ she rued to herself, "_There was real danger up here...and we might not live to see sunrise..." _

She felt the blast of the cold night wind on her face as she was carried outside. She heard a scraping as she and Holly were slid chairs and all into what presumably was the cult's vehicle. The robed figures were still chanting as they walked past the girls into the vehicle themselves; Tracy swore, however, that she heard one whisper, regretfully, "I'm sorry," right in her ear as he or she passed by. It was small comfort, though, as she heard the back door slam shut right in front of her, and the vehicle started rolling forward, carrying Holly and herself towards an unknown destination...and perhaps their doom...


	5. Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

The ride seemed to last no more than a minute as far as Tracy could ascertain. No sooner had the vehicle they were in started out on the road than it slowed down and moved at no more than five miles an hour, during which time heavy rustling of some kind could be heard outside. Finally, it braked to a stop. "_They must have taken us back to the asylum," _she reasoned,_ "Then it must have been a light up in the window we saw..." _

The doors to the vehicle popped open in front of her. She could still hear the heavy rustling, but for whatever reason, it stopped once shouts were given in the strange language. Tracy felt her chair being picked up again and she and a whimpering Holly were carried out of the vehicle. The man (or perhaps it was a woman; there was no way of knowing) holding her and her chair up turned hard to the left. Soon, the cold fall wind was replaced on her cheeks by a strong dankness. They were inside the building now, but where were they being taken inside, she wondered with a terrified mind? And if the intention was to sacrifice the two of them as she feared, were they being taken right to the place where they'd be killed? Did they have mere minutes to live now?

Her heart was thus pounding like crazy, loud enough to be deafening to her, as her captor came to a sudden stop. There was a loud buzzing sound in front of her, followed by a door clicking open loudly. _"They still have electricity in this place?"_ she wondered to herself, _"They must have hooked up some generators somewhere. Oh, I wish I could at least see where we're going! It's more unnerving being in the dark like this!" _

She froze up in fear again as loud ominous growls, much like the creature, whatever Joe had said its actual name was, to her right. To her relief, though, her captor kept walking. Behind her, Holly was having a panic attack, it sounded like, shrieking into her gag at the top of her lungs and audibly thrashing about in her chair. "Calm down, you!" the English-speaking cult member warned her loudly, followed by another slap ringing out when Holly kept whimpering. "I hate when they can't take it maturely," he grumbled out loud.

"Oh well, some can handle it, some cannot," another mused in English as well, then started chanting in the foreign language again. Tracy felt herself being carried up a flight of stairs, and the climb continued for about three stories before another door buzzed open, and her captor turned to the right, taking down a long, echoing hall. _"Wherever you're taking us now, at least untie us when we get there!"_ she begged them in her mind, "_Or if nothing else, take off these blindfolds; I want to at least see what's going to happen to us!" _

"These look about good," she heard the leader say out loud in front of her as the cultist carrying her came to a stop, "Put them in separate cells so they can't work on each other's bonds. Better set up the incentive to hold still too." Tracy frowned; what did that mean? Part of her didn't want to know deep down. She heard Holly screech again as they turned to the left, but then Holly's cries faded mostly away as her chair was set down on the floor-somewhere, and, to her extreme disappointment, she was not untied at all, nor was the blindfold removed. Her blood froze again, however, as she felt something being pressed against her forehead above the blindfold-it felt a lot like an electrode. "You and your friend will wait here in these cells until we are completely ready for the ceremony," the leader was leaning right into her face, "You have approximately one hour to live before you are taken down to the sacrificial chamber and given up as a gift to Bastor. Escape is completely out of the question, so you are aware, and we are going to arrange it now so you know what will happen if you cause any trouble during the wait for the ceremony."

Tracy's blood was freezing cold again, as no fewer than eight electrodes were now attached to her head, and more were now being attached to her fingers as she heard the ominous sound of something large and mechanical being turned on behind her. And more electrodes were pushed under her pant legs and attached to her legs right above her socks as the machine revved up to full power. She sat frozen still, hoping nothing would happen...

...but it was a hopeless dream, as suddenly a sharp blast of electricity jolted through her entire body. She shook sharply in the chair, shrieking with as much force as her lungs could muster. The shock lasted no more than ten seconds before it was turned off, but it felt like an eternity to her. "Misbehave, and you'll get more of those," the leader warned her, "We'll be watching-we've been watching you and your friend from the start, after all. See you in one hour."

The chanting started up again, and footsteps echoed away from Tracy. She heard a door slam shut, and a lock click. Trapped, she thought, heartbroken; she and Holly were trapped and helpless. She could hear her best friend shrieking and struggling very faintly; the walls had to be reinforced. They had to be inside a set of the inmates' cells in the asylum, she knew. But what good did that information do, she rued, slumping forward in her chair with her eyes starting to water. They had one hour to live, and no way to save themselves...

_"It can't end this way!"_ she thought desperately, panic starting to overtake her as she started thrashing around in her chair wildly, _"We've just got to get out of here! Please, God, help us; we've got to get out of here...!" _

* * *

"Max," the shorter robed figure pushed open the door to the asylum cafeteria, breathing heavily. He noticed the second short figure slumped partially over one of the dusty tables, looking rather glum. "Did he hit you again?" he asked, concerned.

"Mm hmm," came the depressed grunt back, "For 'talking back to him and not having enough faith for Bastor.' Why'd I ever want to search him out...?"

"Max, they've got a pair of girls about our age up there now; apparently Noxen caught them snooping around his place and turned them over to Avor. We can't let them be sacrificed...!"

"What could we do?" Max mumbled weakly, not looking up, "We're just two cogs in the system who're never getting out of here. And what difference does this time make; after so many sacrifices, you start to not notice anymore who..."

"They're our age, Max, and they're pretty too; the one of them's so...she so beautiful, I can't really put into words," he sighed dreamily.

"Well beauty can be only skin deep, you know that, right? They could be cold-hearted, selfish brats who..."

"I don't think so. I sneaked a peak into Avor's office; they seem like good-hearted girls on the monitors. And they're scared, Max; they were all-out terrified when I had to help bring them in. They're too young to die; they're too pretty to die-they're probably too sweet to die. I've seen enough go on since I've been here; I'm not going to let them be the next victims. Are you with me or not, Max?"

"Travis, again, what could we do?" Max turned around to face him at last, "If anything goes wrong, Avor's punishment on us'll be severe; you remember what happened to Tommy, right? And we'll still be stuck here..."

"Damn it, Max, this is not the time to be selfish!" Travis roared at him, "Even if we don't get out, we'll have made something of ourselves by helping these girls get free! Their safety's more important than ours, OK!? Now, are you going to do something, or just sit around and mope for the rest of your life!?"

Max lowered his head, ashamed. "You're right," he confessed, "But how? Avor's got cameras all over the place, guards and his special creations everywhere..."

"Well we'll just have to take down as much as we can in the next forty minutes or so," Travis said firmly, "You know where the main circuit box in this place is, right...?"

* * *

Tracy had lost all control. Overcome with terror, she threw herself wildly around in her chair, shrieking into her gag at the top of her lungs and straining with all her strength on her ropes. But it seemed no matter how hard she strained, the ropes remained firm, not even slackening one bit. "_PLEASE!"_ she begged hysterically in her mind, _"PLEASE LOOSEN! I'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE!" _

But no amount of pleading could make the knots slip off, no matter how hard she tried. Finally, Tracy gave up, exhausted and demoralized. She slumped forward in her chair and started sobbing hard, unable to hold back her terror and grief any longer.

_"What's it like to die!?"_ she thought sadly to herself, _"I didn't want to find out at only sixteen. I don't want to die; please, God, I don't want to die...!" _

But death now seemed inevitable. Would her parents ever find out what had happened to her, she thought dismally? Or would she and Holly just remain lost skeletons up here on Terrell Mountain-now most certainly Terror Mountain to her? She wailed in grief; what she wouldn't give to have her parents here now! But they were probably just getting home now, and might assume she was over at Holly's, especially since she'd left no note behind, assuming she and Holly would be back long before they'd get home. By the time they'd suspect something was wrong, it would be too late, and she and Holly would be...

Time dragged on slowly and painfully as she sat still, crying hard, the weight of what hung over her and her best friend smothering her. Thus, she failed to completely register a low zapping sound in the hall, low, indecipherable mumbles, and distant footsteps thumping. None of it mattered when her life was about to be snuffed out at sixteen, never able to accomplish all she wanted to. It was only a matter of time now before they came...

...and indeed, she now heard a key turning in the lock. Gulping fearfully, she raised her head and took a deep breath; they might be about to murder her and Holly, but they weren't going to see her cry, she vowed. She was going to go out bravely...

...but was puzzled when there was a long pause in front of her, as if the person seemed nervous. Then, suddenly, she felt the electrodes being pulled from her forehead. She winced as they came off harder than she thought, her heart pounding in her throat. But she wasn't going down without a fight, she swore. Sensing her captor was right in front of her, she steeled herself and headbutted him or her. "Ow!" it was a male voice, and a surprisingly young one, that groaned in agony. "Calm down, please!" he begged her, putting a hand on her shoulder despite her efforts to jerk away from him, "I have to do this quickly for you! Hold still and let me untie you; this will be over for you if you stay calm and don't scream, OK?"

Tracy felt the ropes starting to fall away. Her heart beat faster; they were going to take her and Holly away and finish them, she knew it. _"Not if I can help it!"_ she vowed to herself as the gag and blindfold were pulled off. She blinked in the dim light and could just make the robed figure behind the chair, untying her. He seemed to be about the size of the one who'd looked sympathetically at her back at the farmhouse. But she wasn't taking any chances. The moment her arms and upper body were completely free, she swung around and decked him hard. "No, wait, I'm not...!" he tried to protest, but Tracy bent over and swung her body sharply, nailing him with the chair's legs. She then decked him repeatedly and slammed him hard into the wall before frantically untying her legs from the chair. "Holly!" she cried out, rushing out of the cell into the hall. She heard her friend roaring in the cell next to hers over the sound of a hard punch being thrown. Moments later, Holly staggered out into the hall, throwing away a final set of ropes over her shoulder. "No danger, huh Tracy!?" she fixed the blonde with an upset glare, "It doesn't get much dangerous than...!"

"I know, I know, and I'm sorry, I didn't have any idea...!" Tracy stammered out an apology, just as doors could be heard could be heard slamming open down the hall, and more robed figures could be seen in the distance. "Never mind, let's just get out of here while we can!" she seized Holly by the arm and started running as fast as she could up the hall in the opposite direction.

"No, wait, we don't...!" came a cry from inside Holly's cell, but neither girl turned back. They ran as hard as they could down the hall-at least until they reached a closed door. Tracy yanked hard on it, but it refused to budge. "Come on, please!" she begged it, noticed the robed figures starting to get closer behind them.

"Wait, I don't think we want to go through there, Tracy!" Holly pointed through the window on the door, behind which giant, lumbering figures could be seen, approaching the door from the other side-figures much larger and misshapen than normal humans. "Now what, now what...!?" the blonde glanced around desperately-and then noticed a slightly open door to their right. "In here!" she waved her friend through it...

...into a dead-end office. "Oh great thinking, Tracy!" Holly lamented, glancing backwards where the sounds of chanting were getting closer, "Now we're still trapped, and...!"

"Not quite," Tracy was glancing out the window, "Drainpipe right next to here. Stand back."

She gave the cracked window a sharp kick, shattering it, waved Holly out the opening and pressed the door shut just as loud pounding rang out on the other side. "Hurry, hurry, I can't hold them forever!" she called to her friend, who quickly climbed down into the asylum's courtyard below. Tracy counted to thirty in her head, then raced across the room, dove out the window, grabbed the drainpipe in a flash, and slid all the way down to the ground next to Holly. She glanced up at the window above them-but suprisingly, their pursuers weren't there. "That's strange, why aren't they following us?" she wondered, frowning.

"Who cares; let's just get out of here before they do show up!" Holly prodded her worriedly, "And hope your car's working now when we get to it."

"I do too, Holly; this had better...oh my God!" Tracy gasped in shock, staring to her left. For there against the far side of the high stone wall was her car-and it had already been disassembled into dozens of pieces. "Oh great!" she shouted, "Now how do we...!?"

"We run for it, come on!" it was Holly's turn to grab her by the arm and drag her across the asylum's courtyard towards the gate. "Forget your car for now, Tracy," she told the blonde, who was looking forlornly back at the wreckage, "We've got to get out of here before they catch up to us."

"How do I explain this to my parents, though; they spent close to twenty thousand dollars to get me that car!" Tracy lamented, pushing her way through the thick jungle of vines overgrowing the courtyard after Holly, who had reached the gate. The brunette grabbed the gate hard and pulled...

...but the gate remained firmly shut. "What!?" she gasped, yanking on it for all it was worth, "But it was unlocked when we stopped up here earlier; I saw you open it, Tracy! Help me with this!"

Tracy grabbed hold of the gate and yanked it as well, but their combined efforts still weren't enough to open it. "What is this!?" Tracy protested in desperation, "There's no chain or lock on this, how it be...what!?" she spun around, as something had tapped her on the shoulder from behind...

...and let out a horrific scream of terror. For all the vines around them in the courtyard had suddenly come to life, and were lunging toward the two of them. And they were trapped against the seemingly locked gate and high walls of the fence. Holly had just enough time to turn and let out a petrified scream of her own before the vines swarmed them and started wrapping around the girls. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Tracy shrieked in terror, swatting at the vines and pulling them off herself, but for every vine she snapped, dozens more snaked forward to take its place. "RUN, HOLLY!" she cried to her friend, leaping at the stone wall and trying desperately to climb up it, but a pair of vines wrapped around her ankles and yanked her off it, then held her suspended in midair a good fifteen feet off the ground, upside-down amid a sea of swarming green vines so dense she couldn't see anything through them. Other vines started wrapping around Tracy, and before she could react, at least a dozen had wrapped around her midsection, pinning her arms uselessly against her side. "Oh please, God, not like this, not like this...!" she whimpered in fear, straining with all her might to break her arms loose, but the vines were now too dense, and more vines were starting to wrap her up on top of these ones...

"**TRACY, HELP!"** came Holly's terrified scream about five feet away, and Tracy could just make out the silhouette of her friend through the swarming vines, having also been hauled off the ground by the vines, although she was fortunate enough to still be rightside-up, if that counted for anything in a situation this dire. **"HELP** **ME!"** the brunette begged her in terror, twisting about in a panic as more vines started wrapping around her as well.

**"I CAN'T, HOLLY; THERE'S TOO MANY OF THEM, AND THEY'VE GOT ME WRAPPED UP LIKE A MUMMY TOO! HELP!"** Tracy shrieked as loud as she could muster, squirming around in the increasingly thick green coccoon that was starting to cover her so thoroughly that she couldn't see her clothes underneath the vines already wrapped around her anymore, "**SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP US! HELP ME, PLEASE, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, HEL-!" **

A set of vines wrapped over her mouth, silencing her. Within seconds, more vines smothered Tracy's face completely. Suddenly she couldn't breathe at all, and started gasping as all the vines started pulling hard as one; they were trying to squeeze her to death, she realized in horror. And, coccooned completely from head to toe in them, she had no defense. She rapidly started blacking out, suffocating horribly under the pressure, knowing her death had merely been delayed when she and Holly had been released; now it was upon her, in the most horrifying way she could think of. In a few seconds, her life would be extinguished for good...


	6. Travis and Max

...but suddenly, just as she was about to slide into the abyss, she felt the vines starting to recoil from her en masse. Her nostrils felt the sharp blast of flames once they were uncovered again. Within seconds, enough had unwound from around her that she went tumbling to the ground, landing with a thud on her shoulder. She grimaced from the impact, but there appeared to be no real damage when she rotated her arm. With a cry and a thud, Holly landed next to her. "What's going on...!?" her friend demanded, stunned.

"Watch it!" came another young cry, followed by a flash of flame as a torch whizzed by, igniting another set of vines that had been snaking towards them at ground level. Both girls turned rapidly to their left to see two smaller figures in the robes tossing flaming torches at the vines, which hastily retreated, burning hard. "Who are you!?" Holly gasped at them, "What's...!?"

"What are you doing, boy!" came an angry shout at the doorway to the asylum, where the English-speaking cult member was running towards them with a dozen or so of his followers, "Let them be! And you and your friend let our sacrifices go, didn't you...!?"

"Shut up!" one of the small figures hurled a torch hard at the knot of men, sending them scurrying backwards. His colleague did the same. "Come on, we've got to get out of here," he quickly helped Tracy up as he pulled open a box next to the gate and yanked out some wires, then and gave the gate a hard kick, which was enough to open it. "Run!" he took her arm and rushed out the gate, the other leading Holly right behind him. Hearing shouts of the rest of the robed figures coming after them, the latter boy hefted a large metal pipe he was holding, which perhaps would have been another torch had it been needed to combat the vines, slammed the gates shut and rammed the pipe through the bars to keep it shut, just as the cult reached the gate. "Open this gate!" the leader snarled at him, shaking the bars furiously, "When I get my hands on you, boy...!"

The boy spit towards him. "Come on, quick!" he waved Holly to run after him and the others down the road.

"They destroyed our car!" the brunette told them, huffing to keep up.

"We saw," the boy leading Tracy called back, "We'll just have to keep running; don't stop, don't look back!"

"Where are we going!?" Tracy gasped for breath, the shock of the experience still weighing heavily on her, "There's armed men in the farmhouse over there," she pointed to it to their left, "They kidnapped the two of us and gave us to those men...!"

"I know, I was there with the group that brought you in; we'll just have to avoid them and the banetra as best we can," he turned to her with a sympathetic glance.

"That'll be hard, especially once they get the power back up, and the cameras and phone with them," the other boy grunted. "I don't think we can make it all the way down the mountain," he told his friend.

"We'll get as far as we can-off the road, so we're not sitting ducks," his colleague leaped off the side of the road and led Tracy down a steep embankment. "Do you have any idea where you're going!?" she had to ask him.

"I'd heard there was an old cabin deep in the woods, where they took their last set of local victims from, one far enough down the mountain that it's outside the cameras," the lead boy turned to the other one, who nodded, "If we're worn out by the time we get there, we can stop a little while before we rest up."

"My legs are tiring out now...!" Holly complained, huffing harder now.

"Don't stop now; we're still too close to the asylum!" he steadied her and nonetheless slowed slightly to address her exhaustion. "How did those...how did those vines...how'd...!?" she gasped to say.

"Some wicked experimentation by the leader of the cult, and believe me, that's not the worst thing he's managed to create," he told her grimly. Holly shivered at the thought. None of the four of them said much else for about the next five minutes, until finally the low shape of a small cabin loomed in the darkness of the woods directly ahead of them. Here we are. Mud, good," the boy with Tracy bent down and scooped up a handful. "What are you...?" she asked him, frowning.

"Protection," he said, hastily waving for his colleague to turn on a flashlight and spreading the mud on the door in a pattern that looked like a six-pointed star in a triangle. "This is the cult's symbol," he told the girls, gesturing to a similar marking on his robe, "The banetra won't attack where it sees this symbol, so we'll be safe from it in here with this."

"Yeah, but there's still so much else that could get us. We probably shouldn't spend more than about a half hour at most in here," his colleague glanced around the woods nervously.

"That'll be enough time to catch our breaths at least and figure out where to go from here," the first boy pulled down his hood to reveal he had a large shock of unkempt blonde hair, then pushed the surprisingly unlocked door open and hustled everyone else inside. "Hmm," Tracy mused, staring around the cabin, which still looked more or less as if people were still living there, with furniture everywhere and portraits on the wall, with the exception of the thick layer of dust covering everything, "It's almost as if this is...still lived-in..."

"Yeah," the other boy was pulling down his hood, revealing he had slightly tamer black hair, while placing the backpack he'd brought with him on the floor, "They dragged the family that used to live here out in the middle of the night to be sacrificed and experimented on, then did the same to the pair of drifters that took refuge in here just two months ago. So yeah, it's just like it was then. Have a seat, girls," he gestured gently at the sofa, "You both look like you could use a rest."

"Yeah," Tracy was feeling very winded as she plopped down with Holly on the sofa, her heart rate finally starting to return to normal. "You OK?" she asked her friend, who still looked white.

"I...I think so," Holly mumbled, taking deep, winded breaths, "I...I thought we were dead there for a minute...what about these two; can we trust them?" she eyed their apparent saviors, now removing their robes and tearing cult symbols off them, which they pocketed before emphatically throwing the robes in the nearest garbage can, "What if this is some trick, to...?"

"It's no trick, we promise," the blonde-haired boy approached the sofa, placing two flashlights upright on the nearest coffee table to provide rudimentary illumination, "We're both tired of the cult as well, and we didn't want to see the two of you get killed. So don't be afraid; we're completely on your side, we swear."

He sat down next to Tracy. "Are you all right?" he asked her gently, deep concern in his eyes.

"Yeah, I am," she nodded quickly.

"You sure? You're shaking like there's no tomorrow," he took hold of her hand, which Tracy only now noticed was indeed quivering visibly. "I guess...I don't know," she sighed, burying her face in her hands, "That was scarier than anything I've ever been through in my life...and all for a stupid school newspaper piece...!"

"It's OK," he took hold of her other hand, "We're going to help you and your friend get safely out of here, we promise," he nodded at his friend, who was staring rather dumbfoundedly right at a confused Holly.

"We do appreciate the help," Tracy flashed a smile at him. "Who are you two, anyway?" she glanced between the boys, "We never got the chance to ask..."

"Oh, yeah, sorry, we were so bent on getting you two out of there. My name's Travis McCormick," the blonde-haired boy introduced himself, "And this is Max Zane," he gestured at his friend, still staring in amazement at Holly, "We were prisoners up there at the asylum too, in a way. You OK, Max?"

"Wow, Travis," Max mumbled softly, "You didn't tell me they were THIS pretty..."

"Oh thank you," Holly blushed, "Not many boys have called either of us that."

"Well, that's...that's really too bad...I mean, that's surprising given how..." Max stumbled to say, his eyes still fixated on Holly, who starting laughing at his ineptitude. "You two were the ones who untied us, right?" the brunette asked both boys, who nodded. "I'm sorry we attacked you both, then; we didn't know you meant to help," she apologized to them.

"That's OK, we scow how nared you were...I mean, know scow hared..." Max stammered, still staring right at her.

"You'll have to excuse Max; he's not quite himself around pretty girls like the two of you," Travis half-apologized to them with a grin, "And what are your names?"

"I'm Tracy Keefe; this is my best friend Holly Reddick," Tracy formally introduced them, "Like I said, we were looking to do a scary story for the school newspaper up here..."

"It was YOUR idea, Tracy," Holly grew bitter again, "I was against the whole thing from the start, and now look how it almost got us killed...!"

"I know, and I'm so sorry, Holly," Tracy hung her head in shame and started sniffing, "I never meant to put us in harm's way...if I'd known it would have been this dangerous up here...I'd never be able to live with myself if you'd gotten hurt or worse...I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking straight at school when I cooked this project up...!"

She let out a low sob. "Hey, don't cry," Travis slipped an arm around her, "Don't cry, Tracy, it's going to be all right from here on. Besides, you're too beautiful to cry."

"Aw, that's really sweet of you to say that, Travis," she smiled warmly at him, "You're a really, really sweet person. I am truly sorry, though, Holly," she lowered her head again as she turned to her friend, "You were right all along..."

"Well, it wouldn't be right to stay mad at my best friend, especially if we do make it out of here alive in the end," Holly cracked a grin and shook her hand, "I forgive you, Tracy."

"Thanks, Holly, that makes me feel better," Tracy smiled again and hugged her friend. "So, maybe the two of you can shed some light on everything for us," she turned to Travis and Max once she was done, "Who are all these people, and what are they doing up here...?"

"It's a long story, and we've seen the worst parts of it," Max sighed wearily, deep regret on his face, "But yeah, you girls deserve to know everything. You were captured by the cult of Bastor..."

"And what's that?" Tracy frowned.

"Bastor was supposedly a powerful dark Middle Eastern god from centuries ago. Very strong, very evil," the black-haired boy explained, "And he requires live sacrifices every month when the moon is full. But especially on a night when the planets align in a straight line as they do during the full moon tonight. If Bastor isn't given a sacrifice on that particular night, his powers will be destroyed forever. The cult's occupied the former insane asylum since right after it closed down. They've grabbed and sacrificed everyone who lived on Terrell Mountain Road one by one over the years, and once they ran out of them, they started doing the same to anyone else who came up here; if a victim doesn't come right to them, they drive around the various towns and just grab someone at random off the street to use."

"I see. And the man Joe and his henchman who grabbed us, they're...?" Tracy inquired.

"Joe Noxen and his gang have been working for the cult for about a year and a half now, as I understand it," Travis told her, "They'd come up the mountain to use that farmhouse as a hideout after a major bank robbery, but were captured by the cult and about to be sacrificed themselves before they managed to earn a reprieve by asking to work for them. They pull off robberies all over the tri-county area-banks, jewelry stores, armored cars, anything of value-and bring back at least one victim to be sacrificed by the Bastor cult. In return, the cult protects them from arrest. Max and I never had too much contact with them, but I've seen the people they've brought in-tellers, guards, customers in the wrong place at the wrong time; they were all sacrificed. And those that weren't were experimented on to create horrible evil creatures. And with the dark powers at their disposal, the cult makes sure to create enough magic protection so the Noxen gang doesn't get caught and possibly reveal their operation. Of course, the fact they have half the mountain wired with cameras provides a lot of protection too; that's how they knew you girls were coming before you got up there," he told them.

"Great, we were being watched the whole time!" Holly lamented, putting her hands to her face, "We were trapped the moment we drove up Terrell Mountain Road! Well, then, how about you two?" she asked the boys, "How did two seemingly nice guys like you end up here?"

"Well, guess I'll go first-mind if I sit with you, Holly?" Max asked her nervously.

"Oh not at all; have a seat," Holly laughed and tapped the sofa next to herself. Max eagerly plopped down next to her. "My uncle, he's the second in command in the cult," he began, still staring as if entranced into Holly's eyes, "We never had any contact with him before, and my parents never said a word about him. I'd seen him in old family photos, but they'd cut me off and tell me he was dead..."

"Are you sure you're OK, Max?" Holly was laughing at him again.

"Oh, uh, well, it's just..."

"Oh it's OK, don't be nervous," she grinned, putting an arm around him, "I appreciate a boy who likes me so much as you seem to, Max; ordinarily, Tracy and I have bent over backwards to even get noticed."

"Well, it's easy to notice girls who are so pretty as you and Tracy are, Holly," he seemed on Cloud Nine that she seemed to like him. His expression then went south again. "I got an e-mail from Uncle Brett about ten months ago; he said he wanted to reconnect with me, to meet me on Terrell Mountain Road that night, and not to say a word to my parents..."

"Where do you live, Max?" she asked him.

"Lechtown," he told her, "So no more than fifteen miles away. Anyway, I'd been having arguments with my folks a lot around that time, over staying out past curfew, subpar grades; stuff like that that seem trivial in hindsight. But at the time, I guess I was mad at them for what seemed like interfering in my life, so I figured I might as well make the rendezvous with Uncle Brett without telling them to spite them. So, after they were asleep that night, I drove off to meet him. At first I was glad to see him, and he seemed glad to see me, and asked me to ride with him up the mountain to look into getting me that job. I soon saw exactly what the job was; he took me into the asylum and made me watch a sacrificing. I was horrified and wanted out then and there, but he and the rest of the cult made it clear that to them, when you join the Bastor cult, you join for life. When I still tried to escape, Avor had me..."

"Avor?" Holly frowned.

"He's the cult leader," Max explained, "He believes the spirit of his predecessor as Bastor's high priest on earth lives inside him, that all the cult leaders transfer themselves to another after their deaths. He was horribly burned in a ritual gone wrong a few years back, and wears a Bastor mask to cover up the damage. But anyway," his expression collapsed, "He ordered my will to escape broken so I would become a loyal soldier of Bastor. Travis told me you girls were given some electro-shock therapy earlier; I was given that and a whole lot more..."

He let out a low sob and slumped forward on the sofa. "I still want to go home so badly," he lamented, "You never realize what you have till it's gone; being trapped up here made me realized how good my parents were to me, and how foolish I was to run from them over something so trivial as wanting my space respected. Uncle Brett gets ugly with me every time I bring them up; I can see now why they tried to block him out for all these years. I want to see them again so much..."

"I understand, Max, I understand," Holly put a sympathetic arm around him, "I had a shouting match with my dad over getting to drive the car more a few weeks ago; facing death made me realize how meaningless an argument that was, and how much he and Mom have done for me over the years. How about you, Travis?" she turned to him, "How'd you land up here?"

"Painfully," Travis looked just as miserable, "It was eight months ago. My mom had taken me to a concert down in Davis City-I'm from Slaytondale, by the way..."

"I can see," Tracy nodded at the varsity jacket he was wearing, which had Slaytondale High's logo and colors. Travis nodded softly in affirmation. "We were driving back in good spirits, but it was after dark, and Mom made a wrong turn up the mountain. And then, the car suddenly died for no reason halfway up before we could turn around..."

"Same thing happened to us," Tracy realized.

"Yeah, that's a common tactic of theirs with anyone who happens to blunder up the road," Travis shook his head grimly, "We had no cell phone reception, and it was starting to rain, so we debated whether one of us should go down the mountain to try and hail someone down, when a car came up, and this guy-it was Max's uncle, as I found out later, who'd been watching us on the monitors with Avor the whole time-and offered to drive us to where we could find a phone. Mom wasn't completely sure, but I agreed, figuring it was...it was better than waiting around in a car all night. So we...we got in the car with him. We realized something was wrong when he drove us to the asylum, but by then, it was already too late; the car was surrounded by the rest of the cult, and we were quickly overpowered when we tried to run for it. Then Avor appeared in his terrible mask and ordered...and ordered...and ordered Mom to be taken straight away to be..." he choked up, tears flooding his eyes, "and that I be locked up until the ceremony was c-c-completed. As we were...dragged in different directions, she called to me tearfully to stay strong and be brave, and to never...never f-f-forget her..."

He broke down sobbing. "Travis, I'm sorry," looking sad and stunned herself, Tracy gave him a hug, "You really loved her, didn't you?"

"Mom and I were real close," he said tearfully, sniffing loudly, "Dad died of cancer when I was eight; Mom and I became practically inseparable after that point. She'd always encourage me in my writing when I didn't believe in myself..."

"Oh, so you're a writer too?" she exclaimed, "I've always loved writing; I want to be a newspaper reporter someday; right now, I work on the school newspaper, as I said earlier. Anyway, what else...if it's not too painful for you?"

"I was locked in...in a cell upstairs," Travis took a deep breath and tried to continue, "After...after...everything was over, Avor and Max's uncle came to me and told me that from that moment on, the Bastor cult was my only family, and I'd better start liking it there, because I'd be living in that asylum for the rest of my life. That's how they recruit; they conscript people who stumble on to them who they don't decide to sacrifice. As the youngest members of the cult, Max and I became fast friends under the circumstances; I think we got each other through so much in there," he nodded at the other boy, "I've been hoping and trying to get out since then, but so far, I'd been thwarted by their security systems, both natural and unnatural, each time; those vines you and Holly ran into are one precaution against escape. But believe me, the newer recruits often try to escape at first. There was one other kid our age here when I first ended up here; Tommy Edwards was his name. He'd gone up here on a dare with some other kids and had been forcibly conscripted to the cult. He tried to escape so much, that Avor gave up on him and ordered him...ordered him offered up to Bastor too. So he was, three months ago. I miss him already...and I still miss Mom...oh God, I miss her so much, and it's my fault she's gone...!"

He broke down sobbing again. "No, no, Travis, it's not your fault," Tracy consoled him, "You had no way of knowing who those people were..."

"I pressed her to go with them; I pushed her down the road to her death!" he sobbed, "I could have saved her; I wasn't brave enough...!"

"There was nothing you could have done, Travis; it was just fate, not you," crying herself now, Tracy pulled him into a bigger hug, "Wherever she is now, I'm sure she still loves you, and she'd forgive you. And look at what you've done since then; you saved my life and Holly's life tonight," she pulled back and smiled warmly at him, "That's certainly redemption, Travis, and I'll always appreciate you for that. And I know your mom does too."

Travis sniffed again. "Thanks, Tracy; you're really sweet yourself," he smiled warmly at her, "We're not out of this yet, though," his expression dropped, "When we get you and Holly off this mountain and back safe to your folks, then I'll rest easy."

"Why don't we go check, see if any of them followed us? They may have had enough time now to get the gate back open and the cameras back up," Max hesitantly glanced towards the window. He gave Holly another warm smile in parting before hustling along with Travis into the adjoining room to check. Holly let out a happy sigh. "I guess I spoke too soon, Tracy; they're on the level and all right by me," she told her friend with a grin, "They're really sweet boys at heart."

"Yeah, they are," Tracy said with a happy sigh of her own, "I can see you and Max have a bit of chemistry already."

"Well, I guess I do kind of like him," Holly confessed, "It's clear he likes me, too. Much as I think Travis likes you," she gave the blonde a light, playful shove.

"He's certainly good-hearted," Tracy nodded, smiling, "That always was what I wanted most in a boy. So, maybe tonight wasn't totally wasted. Maybe we finally found the right boys, Holly."

"I hope so, I hope so," Holly nodded wishfully. "How's it look?" she asked Travis when he returned.

"I didn't see anyone out there," he told her. "Want a drink?" he extended a water bottle towards her, "Max brought it in his pack; he thought you might be thirsty."

"Oh, thank you," she eagerly took it and sipped away. "Save some for me, Holly," Tracy advised her. "Anyone you could see out there?" she asked Max when he rushed up, taking the bottle from Holly and having a drink herself.

"I thought I heard something cracking out there," Max looked worried, "I think we'd better get moving, Travis," he told his friend nervously, "They've had plenty of time to get..."

But it was already too late, as the door to the cabin was kicked wide open. "Gotcha," snarled Joe, a cold look in his eyes and a shotgun leveled at the four teens; behind him, Norman and Moose had large guns aimed at them as well. "You four aren't going anywhere..."


	7. A Race Against Death

"Listen, this isn't...!" Travis protested with wide eyes.

"Shut up!" Joe barked at him, "Hands up, all of you, and over here, now."

"We're not worth it, really, just...!" Tracy tried her hand at protesting, nonetheless obeying his order and throwing up her hands.

"You heard him, zip it, princess," Norman ordered, "You're going back to that asylum; we're not losing our protection from them. From what I hear, all four of you ought to be done in by them. Right over here."

He roughly grabbed hold of Holly's arm-only to have her kick him hard where it really hurt. She bit his hand as well, making him drop his gun. "Why you little...!" he roared, lunging towards her, only to have Max leap right into his chest, sending him crashing into his partners and bowling them all over. "Shoot them!" Joe bellowed, struggling to raise his gun up, but Travis and Tracy rushed forward and bashed him and Moose over the head with heavy lamps, which shattered over the men's heads, knocking them out visibly. "Run for it, quick, before they wake up!" Travis shouted at everyone, snatching up all the men's guns before rushing out the door with them. "Where do we go now?" Holly asked him, visibly rattled at the sudden intrusion, "Do you know the exact way off this mountain...?"

"No, but we've got to come out at some road if we keep going down-I hope," Travis seemed less than certain, taking all the guns and tossing them down into a deep ravine to their right, "And we'd better hurry; if Noxen knew we were there, Avor does too. They won't be all he'll send after us..."

* * *

"Imbecile!" Avor was berating Imperio in the main asylum office, "How could you let them get away like that!?"

"I beg your mercy, Your Excellency; my nephew and his cursed friend sabotaged the electrical outlets to blow out the power in the building, and how was I to know they'd burn the vines down to allow our sacrifices to escape," his second in command protested weakly, "I notified Noxen..."

"We'll have to do more than just him and his gang. Send our entire brotherhood out onto the mountain to find them, for as you know, Bastor will destroy us all if he is not given an offering, any offering, by sunrise. Meaning," Avor lifted Imperio off his feet and held his adjutant's face right against the iron demon mask he was wearing, "If you don't get them back, I'm offering up YOU to Bastor. Understood!?"

"Extremely clearly, Your Excellency," Imperio gulped.

"Open up the vaults; let all our creations out," Avor ordered him, "I'll pray to Bastor to aid us as well. And if we successfully catch them, Brother Imperio, they will ALL be offered up, including your pathetic nephew as punishment for his treason of me and Bastor..."

"Go right ahead, Your Excellency; he's dead to me now for this betrayal of us, blood or no blood," Imperio muttered bitterly. He bustled out the door, barking orders to several robed figures standing outside. Avor shut the door again, then opened the closet holding the Bastor statue again. "Oh mighty Bastor," he fell to his knees before it, "I pray to you to give me assistance in bring you sustinence this evening..."

* * *

"How much further!?" Holly was gasping for breath again. They'd been running hard for close to ten minutes, but it was still solid, dark woods all around them, with no signs of light anywhere around the four of them except for the beams of the boys' flashlights.

"I don't know, but we can't stop now," Travis huffed himself, looking more than a little worried, "They'll probably be throwing the works at us real soon..."

"Sorry, Travis, but I think I need another breather myself," Max looked winded too. Travis reluctantly pulled up to a stop, as did the others. "Let's see, let's see..." he murmurred out loud, glancing around the dark, silent woods. "You girls said you were from Marshfield, right?" he asked them.

"Yeah," Tracy nodded. "Since Terrell Mountain Road's up there," she pointed back the way they'd come, then arced her finger around in a half circle. "I think we are going in the right direction..."

"Where's the lights of the town, Tracy; where's the sound of traffic, of anything?" Holly wasn't as convinced, "I think we're lost..."

"We're not lost, Holly, we're just...we still have a way to go yet," Tracy tried to reassure her, but she wasn't looking as convinced herself, "If we just keep going, sooner or later, we'll reach Hemlock Creek at the bottom of the mountain; we'll then just follow it back into Marshfield..."

Suddenly, a loud growl rose up behind the four of them-a very familiar, ominous growl. "Uh oh...!" Max turned pale, turning slowly with the others to see the glowing red eyes of the banetra in the bushes...seconds before it lunged forward towards them with a roar. "Stay back!" Max pulled out the piece of cloth with the cult's symbol on it and held it up, making the banetra come to a sudden stop inches in front of him. Travis quickly did the same. "Start running, girls," he whispered to them, "We'll hold it off as..."

Without warning, a gunshot ran out, blasting the piece of cloth he was holding into pieces and making him jump in shock at how close he'd come to being hit. Another blast shredded Max's as well. "No you don't," Joe and his colleagues were standing atop the nearest rise, new guns in their hands, "You're not using that mumbo jumbo to save yourselves. You're going back with us, unless you want..."

The rest of his sentence was lost as the banetra roared again and leaped at the teens again. "RUN FOR IT!" Max hurled a rock at the creature, striking it in the head and momentarily dazing it. He rushed after the others, hunching low as gunshots rang out behind them. "Just terrific!" he moaned in disgust, "They found spare guns and ruined our protection!"

"Well we can't run from them forever, pal," Travis glanced worriedly over her shoulder at the two pinpoints of red huffing ever closer to them.

"We need to climb; Tracy and I climbed out of danger from this thing the first time we ran into it-there!" Holly breathlessly pointed to a large, elderly oak about fifty feet in front of them.

"That'll be a start; it can't climb trees," Max smiled at her, "Although, if the gunmen are back there too, we'd better switch trees soon, and..."

"All right, JUMP!" Travis leaped for the lowest branch on the tree. Everyone else leaped as well at the last second, causing the banetra to slam hard head-first into the tree's trunk, shaking the whole tree. The four of them frantically scrambled up the branches until they were close to the top. Below, the banetra growled and circled the tree, but it was well below and unable to get to them. "There we go. Real good thinking there," Max rubbed Holly's hair warmly, "You're just as smart as you are beautiful, Holly."

"Why thank you," she blushed and rubbed his shoulder in turn, "Now we can..."

Suddenly the tree shook head. "I don't know if we're out of the woods just yet, guys," Travis looked worried, glancing down. The banetra was charging straight into the tree again and again, and each impact shook it harder and harder, amplified by what sounded like the roots creaking. "He just might be powerful enough to knock it down like that," the blonde-haired boy gripped the trunk worriedly.

"That's not our only problem if he does, Travis," Tracy glanced fearfully over the side; their tree was dangerously close to a steep drop-off into a deep ravine, at least a hundred feet down off the ledge, "We've got to switch to another tree before...!"

But it was too late; rearing up on its hind legs, the banetra pushed hard on the tree trunk, which cracked loudly as it started toppling over. Screaming as one, the teens held on tight to the tree as it fell towards the small cliff...

...where it landed about halfway over the edge. Unfortunately, they were clinging to the edge hanging over the deep ravine. "Oh God, oh God...!" Max shut his eyes, holding onto his branch with all his might.

"We've got to get out of here, quick; it could go at any minute!" Tracy hastily tried to climb onto the trunk itself, but froze as the entire tree leaned ominously down towards the ravine. "Don't, we have too much weight!" Holly begged her, gripping the trunk hard herself. With everyone frozen still, the tree seesawed back up into a flat position, but it still creaked and groaned loudly, as if it was going to fall at the slightest push. "Now what!?" the brunette fearfully asked out loud.

"I think I see some vines," Tracy squinted in the dark at the side of the cliff walls near the top, "If we can get over there, and they're strong enough..."

With a loud growl, the banetra had appeared at the edge of the cliff. It stared down at its potential prey, crouching down into a springing position. And the tree was creaking again and ever so slightly starting to bend down towards the bottom of the ravine again. "Jump as one," Travis whispered loudly, looking nervous, "NOW!"

The words left his mouth just as the banetra leaped for the tree. The four of them simultaneously jumped for the cliff and just managed to all grab onto the top of it (Travis slightly missed and had to grab onto one of the vines, but it was anchored deep enough to support his weight). The banetra sailed over them and slammed into the tree, its weight being more than enough to send it crashing over the side of the ravine, the creature's howls mixing with its thunderous descent until it impacted hard in the ravine far below. The teens quickly pulled themselves up to solid ground and stared at the dust cloud far below. "Is that the end of it...?" Holly asked.

"I don't know; it's shown it can take a lot of punishment and keep going," Max looked unsure the creature was dead. "That was sure close," he breathed a deep sigh of relief, the color starting to return to his white face.

"Not over yet," Travis pointed to the beam of a flashlight above them on the hill, which was followed seconds later by another gunshot that plunked into another tree dangerously close to them. Exchanging fearful glances, the four of them silently took off running again through the shrubbery along the crest of the ravine. More gunshots rang out behind them blindly. "You kids can run, but you can't hide!" Joe warned them loudly, "You'll never get off this mountain if we can help it!"

The teens came to a sudden stop at the edge of another dropoff directly in front of them, although this one wasn't as steep as the ravine the tree and banetra had just fallen into-no more than twenty feet down, and below them, glistening in the moonlight, flowed a high stream. Hemlock Creek," Tracy recognized it, "Finally, a landmark..."

Another shot rang out very close. "Is that deep enough to jump into without breaking our necks?" Max frowned worriedly at it.

"We don't have much choice, pal," Travis took Tracy's hand, while Max reluctantly took Holly's, "On three, THREE!"

The four of them dove off the ledge into the creek as the footsteps got closer to their position, splashing down into the cold mountain stream, which started pulling them gently along at once. "OK, that wasn't so bad," Max conceded, relieved, "And if this carries us down..."

Suddenly, they stopped moving, and the water suddenly became much thicker around them. To their horror, the creek had suddenly changed into...

"QUICKSAND!" the four of them cried out loud as one. And it was already up to their waists and starting to rise. "What is this!?" Tracy shrieked, terrified, struggling around in it, but only sinking herself down further.

"It must be Avor, he must be invoking Bastor's power to cause this!" Travis looked equally terrified, glancing around for something to grab on to.

Cold laughter came from the shore. "Yep, I can't say I understand the cult's ways, but they sure can come in handy sometimes," Joe snickered as he and his colleagues climbed down the ledge and approached the shoreline. "You can agree to surrender and let us take you back to them," he pressed the four of them, who were sinking up to their chests now, "If you don't agree, we'll let you drown. The choice is yours, kids."

"We're not going back!" Tracy shouted defiantly, trying to force a brave face as she and the others sank deeper into the quicksand.

"Go to hell!" Max added, spitting towards the shore.

"OK, but you've got no more than two minutes before you drown," Joe folded his arms confidently across his chest while his partners kept their guns trained at the teens, now up to their shoulders in the quicksand, "Let's see how brave the four of you really are..."


	8. The Full Horrible Power of Their Foes

"All right, all right!" Holly cried out once the quicksand had reached her neck, "We'll go with you! Now get us out of here!"

"Promise? I don't want any tricks from any of you if I pull you out," Joe warned them.

"No tricks, honest!" she begged.

"All right, but you're on the record here," he nodded to his colleagues, who threw ropes to her and Tracy. They grabbed hold and held on as they were pulled slowly towards the bank and roughly hauled up out of the quicksand. "Now get Travis and Max out too, quick!" Tracy pointed to the boys, straining to keep their heads above the surface.

"The deal's not for them; they can go drown for all we care," Joe seized her arm roughly, "Now come on, we're going."

"You can't just leave them there to die!" she screamed at him, fighting to break away, "They're good and decent...!"

"And from what our benefactor says, they betrayed him, so they deserve to die, so stop fighting me and let's go!" he tried to pull her away hard.

"NO!" she kicked him where it really hurt, as did Holly, making the men release them. Without really thinking, both girls rushed over to the base of the small cliff, each seized a large rock, and hurled them at the approaching men. The rocks connected with Joe and Norman's foreheads, sending them crumpling to the ground. Growling, Moose stumbled past them towards Tracy and Holly, but they launched another set of rocks that connected with his head and sent him down as well. Their expressions turned shocked as the men lay still. "Have we...!?" Holly mumbled, looking horrified that they might have been capable of something terrible.

"No, look, they're still breathing, thank God," Tracy looked relieved to see this, "Hurry, we've got to get Travis and Max out of there, quick!"

"Holly, Tracy, hurry!" came Max's desperate cry; he and Travis had sunk almost completely underneath by now, and were straining to keep their faces above the quicksand. "Rope, rope, rope...!" Holly looked around frantically for it.

"Let's see, let's see...!" Tracy grabbed one of the men's flashlights from the ground and shone it all around. "There, there!" she shone it on the rope where it lay by the riverbank. She grabbed one end of it and tied it around a thick elm right on the edge of the creek while Holly quickly tossed the other end into the quicksand. "Grab on, quick!" she cried to the boys, who strained to reach up and grab hold of it. "OK, just hold on tight!" she begged them. She and Tracy pulled as hard as they could, and after about two and half minutes finally managed to pull Travis and Max onto the riverbank. "Are you two all right!?" she asked worriedly, wiping the quicksand off a gasping Max.

"I think so," he said between deep breaths, "Thank you so much, both of you," he smiled gratefully at both girls.

"Well, you and Travis saved our lives earlier tonight; it's only fair we save yours in turn; now we're even," Tracy winked at him. "Look at this, though," she lamented, staring down at her now muddied pants, "Brand new jeans and sneakers, ruined."

"I'll buy you a new set once we get out of here; my treat. And thank you, Tracy; you really are brave and caring," Travis pulled her into a hug. "You both are," he smiled at Holly as well.

"Yep, they are," Max gave Holly a congratulatory hug of his own. His gaze fell on the unconscious men. "Hopefully they'll be out long enough so we can get back to civilization."

"Like I said, this leads right back to Marshfield," Holly pointed excitedly at the quicksand creek, "If we hurry, maybe we can get back to town in a half hour, get the cops, and have..."

"Shhh!" Max held up his hand, worried again. Sure enough, the crackling of underbrush could be heard not all that far off-and torches could be seen glowing in the distance. "The rest of the cult's coming; they must have either strung extra cameras around the edge, or Noxen tipped them off to where they'd found us before...!"

"That's not all I hear," Tracy was frowning deeply, more growling sounds, as if coming from an army, could be heard along with the rustling, "Something's out there with them..."

"And that can't be good," Travis turned pale, "We've got to move again, now!"

The four of them took off running again along the creek, which after a few hundred feet transformed back into a regular waterway. "What else is out there that we have to avoid?" Holly called to Travis, glancing back towards the torches getting ever so closer.

"All the people they didn't sacrifice, they experimented on; they've been turned into things that aren't quite human," he informed her, fearfully looking back himself for a moment, "And they eat flesh now. They're usually kept locked up except for special occasions; it's clear how badly Avor and Max's uncle want to catch us if they've let...AAAAAACCCCCKKK!"

He jerked to a sudden stop, seconds before Max and the girls screamed themselves. For lumbering out of the bushes towards them from directly in front of them were giant...things. Things that, as Travis had hinted, may have once been human beings, but were now over seven feet high, bulked up on muscles, and had claws, fangs, and glowing yellow eyes. The slobbering, growling sounds they were making as they advanced towards the teens made it quite clear they meant them grave harm. "N-N-N-Now wh-wh-what!?" Holly just managed to say in terror as they backed away from them.

"Um, uh, um...!" Travis seemed at a loss for words and ideas, and looked deathly terrified himself to be face to face with the cult's creations.

"You'll do nothing, that's what, boy," came Imperio's stern voice. The cult's second in command came striding forward out of the darkness, his mask off, a torch in one hand, and holding out the cult logo on his robe, which made the creatures come to a stop inches from their quarry. "I've really had it with the four of you already tonight," he growled coldly at the teens, "No more tricks, no more fighting back; if you don't come with us now back to the asylum, I'll give them to green light to attack all four of you."

"Go back to what? Are you going to sacrifice us all, Uncle Brett? Forget it!" Max glared coldly at the relative who'd manipulated him away from his family, "I'm through with you, and all these people," he jerked a contemptuous finger at the approaching cult members behind his uncle, "And I'd rather die than go back; all of us would!" he nodded at his new friends and put an arm around Holly, "I'd rather die here with Holly, the sweetest girl in..."

His uncle decked him hard in the face. "If that's what you want, you worthless good-for-nothing, you can have it; I wash my hands of you too!" he barked back at him with equal coldness, "I only need one of you, so the question now is, who lives and who dies? Why don't we let my creations decide right..."

In a flash, Max grabbed the torch out of his uncle's hands and swiped it at him, making Imperio howl and stagger backwards. He then waved it wildly at the monsters, who shrieked at the sight of it and retreated, even though Imperio shouted orders at them that sounded quite ominous. "Run for it, anywhere away from here!" he cried to his friends, "I'll try and hold them off!"

"No way, buddy, we're not letting anything happen to you!" Travis took hold of his free arm and dragged him away from their would-be attackers across the creek. But the rest of the cult was starting to give pursuit as well; they were outnumbered at least twenty-five to four. And more zombie-like growls could be heard in the woods. "We can't just keep running around forever!" Tracy pointed out, nervously glancing around the woods for any signs of further attackers.

"It's better than facing them head-on, that's for sure," Travis shook his head, huffing, "If only there was a place to...!"

Another bloodcurdling scream by Holly made them turn around-and scream themselves. With growls of their own, the trees around them had somehow come to life. With holes on their trunks glowing red like eyes, they grasped fingerlike branches ominously towards the teens. "Back, back!" Max swung his torch wildly at any that came close to his friends, and more than a few trees were soon howling, ablaze. "Damn you, Avor, this isn't playing fair!" he shouted to the sky.

"Get off me!" Tracy snapped through one set of branches that had tried to grab her around the waist. She gulped to see the torches of the cult and hear the growling of the monsters getting close to their position...

...but then notices something else right beyond the monstrous grove. "Guys, there's a cave over there in that ravine!" she pointed to the opening, "If we can get there without them seeing us, maybe we can lose them!"

"I guess it's worth a try," Max snapped off the branch of another tree reaching for him, ignoring the tree's howl of pain, and tossed it as far as he could into the bushes on the other side of the grove, followed by the torch. Sure enough, the monsters charged towards the sound. "Come on, quick!" Tracy hissed softly so as not to give away their position. The four of them rushed through the grove, jumping and ducking a few final grasping live tree branches, and raced as fast as they could still manage towards the cave...

"LOOK OUT!" Travis shrieked, pointing at the sky. From above, a gigantic fireball was descending towards them. Pale, they frantically dove through the entrance to the cave seconds before it impacted hard with the entrance, sending a blizzard of flames and rocks tumbling everywhere. The teens covered their heads and mouths on the cave floor until the deafening rumble went silent. "Everyone OK?" Travis asked worriedly, gently helping Tracy to her feet, "You're not hurt, are you Tracy?"

"No, I'm OK," she assured him, coughing in the dusty air, "Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..."

"But we're not fine, guys," Holly sounded glum. The two of them turned to see the brunette slowly approach the cave entrance, shining the flashlight she'd taken off Max earlier towards it. It was now firmly sealed shut by a solid wall of heavy rocks stretching from floor to ceiling. "We're trapped," she whimpered softly, her hand shaking as she touched the impenetrable rock wall, "Buried alive..."


	9. Buried Alive

In a flash, she rushed at the huge pile of rocks and started tossing them aside. "Come on, give me a hand with this!" she begged the others, "We've got to get a hole through...!"

"I don't think it's going to work, Holly," Max was shaking his head, even though he came over to help her, "There's too much rock, wedged in too tight. Maybe we'd be better to try and find another entrance."

"And what if there isn't another entrance!?" she raised both eyebrows at him in the dim light of her flashlight, "That's not really a risk I want to take...!"

"They'd still be waiting for us on the other side if we tried to break through here right now," Travis spoke up solemnly, flicking on his own flashlight, "And since Avor almost certainly has no cameras in here, he can't do anything to us right now if he can't see where we are. I don't like this any more than you do, Holly, and I pray to God there's another way out of here, but at least they can't capture us in here; if we can't get out this way, they can't get in either, I'm sure of it."

"They can summon fireballs out of thin air too!?" Tracy asked behind him, a bit numb from the experience that had almost fried them all.

"Yeah, unfortunately, Tracy. Avor must be really desperate to be utilizing that power from Bastor. You sure you're OK?" concerned, he approached her and took her hand, "I can see you shaking hard again..."

"I'm OK," she said quickly, not meeting his eyes, "Well, if we're going to find another way out of here, let's hurry."

"Right. Did your torch go out, Max?" Travis glanced around for it.

"Let me have some more light," Max asked him and Holly, glancing around the floor in the flashlight beams. "Aha," he proclaimed upon finding it after about two minutes. He seized one of the rocks Holly had tossed off the blockage pile and pounded it on the stick until it reignited. "OK, let's see what we can find," he told his friends, stepping deeper into the cave, "And hope a way out comes quick, and that it comes out somewhere the cult isn't."

The rest of them nodded solemnly. The light of the torch and the two flashlights offered comparatively little illumination, but they were grateful for it nonetheless. The cave wound slowly down and to the left for what seemed like a eternity before they came to a fork in the tunnel. "Which way should we go?" Max asked the others.

"Um...I guess left," Holly suggested with a shrug.

"If you say left, left it is," he grinned at her and led them to the left. "I've been meaning to ask, Holly, what are you into?" he slowed up enough so that she was walking alongside him.

"Oh, uh, I write like Tracy, although she's more of a pro than I am to be honest," Holly admitted, caught a little off guard by the question, "I'm also into volleyball; that's why I write for the Marshfield Trumpet's sports section..."

"I see. I bet you're one of the best volleyball players, then?" he smiled at her.

"Uh, not really, average, I guess. But I always play hard. How about you, Max?"

"Soccer, since I was nine," he told her, "I still have some hopes of making the national team some day. If we get out of her, you ought to come down to Lechtown and see me in action-if I'm still on the team after being AWOL all this time, of course. And I'd happily drop by to watch every one of your games, Holly."

"Well I'd appreciate...oops," Holly frowned as the four of them came to a stop at a blank wall that clearly marked the end of the tunnel, "Guess it wasn't left. Back we go, I guess."

Looking disappointed, she let Max lead them back out with the brighter torch. In no time, they were back at the fork and turned down the right tunnel, which seemed to go further down into the earth. "Seems like we're heading straight down to the Earth's core," Max mused softly, "I hope there is a rise somewhere; this is..."

"Hold up," Travis stepped forward and held up his hand. He aimed his own flashlight straight ahead, showing the tunnel was severely flooded right ahead of them. "Oh great!" Max sighed in frustration, "How do we know how deep this is?"

"Unfortunately, only one way to find one," Travis nodded forward. Shrugging in resignation, Max trudged forward into the water, after about a hundred yards, it was up to his waist, but no deeper. "I guess it's OK, guys," he called back to them, "Just stay alert and watch for any sudden dropoffs."

The others hesitantly trudged forward and soon were waist deep themselves in the water. "Just hope this is only brief," Holly grumbled softly, holding her arms high to keep her flashlight dry. The tunnel, however, remained basically flooded as they continued onward, although it thankfully did not get any higher than their waists, and there were no dropoffs. There was also, however, no sign of any other exit, although the cave did have rather beautiful stalactite and stalagmite formations, they noticed in the beams of their flashlights. On and on they went, through the water-filled tunnels, around countless twists and turns, hoping and praying to find an exit of some kind. Time dragged on and on, for at least an hour or so, until...

"I can't go any further," Tracy spoke up for the first time in a long time, looking tired and glum, "I'm too tired out from this and everything else; I'm sorry. Can we stop somewhere, please!?"

"If you need a break, Tracy, we'll take a break," Travis assured her. He shone his flashlight around the cavern. "Ah, looks like there's a nice wide ledge up there well out of the water," he declared, focusing the light on it right ahead of them.

"Good, I think I could use a break too, Travis; how about you?" Max asked Holly, who nodded softly, "Just so it's drier than what we've been trudging through."

"Looks completely dry to me, pal. Let me give you a hand there," he offered Tracy, helping her climb up the wall. Tracy sighed softly as she climbed out of the water and up onto the ledge, which was even wider than it had initially seemed, more than enough to easily accomodate all four of them. The moment she was up on in, she slumped down into a sitting position, buried her face in her hands, and started sobbing hard. "Tracy, Tracy, what's wrong?" Travis worriedly hauled himself up and put an arm around her.

"It's all my fault, Travis; I've killed all of us!" she cried, slumping her face into his chest, "I had to have us run in here; I thought it would be safe; now we're trapped and we're going to die...!"

"It's all right, Tracy; you had no way of knowing they could launch that fireball and cause that cave-in," he pulled her into a hug, "Don't blame yourself; this is not your fault, OK?"

"Yes it is; everything's my fault!" she wasn't consoled, "I had to drag Holly along to try and get that newspaper story; I almost got my best friend killed twice tonight before this! I had to go check out what Joe Noxen was doing in that farmhouse; if I hadn't been so curious, so bent on getting a story, we wouldn't have been caught, wouldn't have been taken to that asylum and almost sacrificed; Holly was terrified, and that was my fault for dragging her along too! And yes, it is my fault for getting us trapped here with no way out! All because I was a selfish jerk who wanted to be more popular in school...I'm so sorry...!"

She couldn't continue and completely broke down crying into his chest. "Oh, Tracy, Tracy, Tracy," crying himself now, Travis gently placed his hands on her cheeks and raised her head so they were making eye contact, "Please don't cry, Tracy. We're going to get out of this, I promise you. And I know how it might seem you're to blame for everything, but I swear to you, nothing that's happened tonight is your fault, Tracy. These people trying to kill us are the monsters, not you. Not you at all."

"Tracy, it's all right," Holly crawled over to her friend and hugged her herself, "Maybe you were more curious about things than you needed to be, but that's not a crime. Tracy, I'm not mad at you; I never was mad at you tonight," she told her friend sympathetically, "It's as much my fault; I wanted to be popular too. We're even, OK?"

"I don't know..." Tracy tearfully shook her head, unconvinced.

"If it makes you feel better at all, Tracy," Max slid over and gently rubbed her shoulder, "You should feel proud about coming up here, really. If you and Holly hadn't, Travis and I would still be prisoners ourselves in that asylum. I was losing hope we'd ever escape. You and Holly helped us get out of there, even if you hadn't really intended it that way. You did an awful lot of good tonight, not least of all saving Travis and I from the quicksand."

"Exactly. So you saved us twice tonight, Tracy. Feel good about that. Come on, dry those eyes," Travis softly wiped Tracy's tears away, "Didn't I say earlier you're too beautiful to cry? I meant every word of that, Tracy..."

"I can't help it; everything I've gone through over the last I don't know how many hours, it's just been too much to bear!" she confessed, sniffing.

"I understand, I understand," he rubbed her hair affectionately, "I've been just as scared as you, Tracy. It's OK to be scared; I've been scared ever since I was taken prisoner at the asylum-scared of what I was going to do even if I did get away now that Mom's no longer..." he sniffed at the cold reminder that his mother was gone, then turned back to Tracy. "But don't think badly of yourself, Tracy, please. You're not a monster at all; in fact, you're the most wonderful girl I've ever met. If anyone should be blamed, it's the other boys at Marshfield for not seeing how special you are."

"You're just saying that to..."

"No, really, I mean everything," he was smiling as he lifted her head up to make eye contact again, "We may only know each other for a few hours, but I know in my heart you're the one I want to spend my life with, Tracy Keefe. You're brave, intelligent, selfless, caring, loyal...and by God, if you're not the most beautiful girl in the world, both outside and inside."

"Oh Travis," she blushed hard, touched.

"It's the honest truth, Tracy; all the rest of the girls in the world combined wouldn't be as beautiful as you are, and the other boys are fools not to see you for that," Travis pulled her close again.

"Travis, stop, you're making me cry again," she was sniffing again, but these were now tears of joy.

"Well you should know how special you are to me, Tracy. I love you; honestly, truly, I love you, Tracy," he stared warmly into her eyes. A warm smile broke out on Tracy's face, and in a heartbeat, the two of them leaned forward and locked lips in a strong kiss that they held for close to a minute. "Oh, I never thought I'd ever feel that," Tracy was crying tears of joy when they pulled back, "And let me tell you, Travis McCormick, you are the sweetest boy in the world yourself. I've never thought a boy could be so caring and sweet as you've been to me tonight. I really, really, appreciate everything you've done for me, and for Holly too-you saved my life twice too."

"Hey, anything for an angel on Earth like you, Tracy," he told her affectionately. With dual smiles, they leaned forward for another long kiss. "Uh, while things seem to be, uh, getting the way they are, Holly, I, uh..." behind them, Max cleared his throat nervously, making Holly turn towards him, "Holly, I...to me, you're the most beautiful and sweetest girl I've ever met too. I'll admit, I, uh, did have a date or two freshman year, but none of those girls really felt right. You're more than right, Holly; you're the one I want. I love you, Holly."

He stared affectionately at her with a wide smile. "Oh, thank you, Max," she was just as touched by his affection as Tracy was for Travis's, "And by the way, you're not so bad yourself, you know," smiling, she slid an arm around him, "You're really kind-hearted and chivalrous, Max, and that's what I've been looking for in boys to be honest. Not to mention you're really handsome, too."

"Get out of town," it was his turn to blush.

"Really, you are. And if there was someone I'd want to be with, it's you, you brave, sweet guy, you," she hugged him warmly, "How could I not like you a lot after you've treated me like a princess from the moment we've met?"

"Well, you are a princess, Holly, it's a simple as that; a brave, sweet princess yourself," Max happily hugged her back.

"Oh that means so much to me, Max," it was her turn to sniff in joy.

"So do I get a kiss like Travis?" he asked teasingly.

"Need you even ask?" smiling from ear to ear, she leaned forward and gave him a deep kiss. "I love you, Max," she reciprocated his proclamation of affection.

"I love you," he told her again, hugging her close once the kiss had ended. "And hey," he exclaimed. "Travis, I just realized," he called to his friend, who looked up at him but did not break his latest kiss with Tracy, "Remember, if they don't get a sacrifice by dawn, Bastor's powers are destroyed forever-and possibly, from the way I heard my uncle wording it in private, the rest of the cult too, at least those that still voluntarily worship Bastor at the time the point of no return's passed. So what's our rush? If we just hold out till sunrise, we'll be home free, and if they can't find a way in here, then we should just sit back and relax."

"Oh yeah," Travis nodded excitedly, "Yeah, what's our rush? Sunrise should be..." he grabbed one of the flashlights and held it to his watch, "No more than four hours from now. They can't pull anything on us down here if they can't see us, either. So what do you say, Tracy, should we just rest up for the rest of the night?" he asked her, involuntarily yawning at that moment himself.

"Fine by me, as long as we can find a way out of here," Tracy nodded softly; she did feel exhausted and ready to go to sleep.

"We will; if we can't find another way out, we'll go back to the entrance and get all those rocks out of the way no matter how long it takes, I promise," he put a hand on her shoulder, "In the meantime, see, this isn't totally a prison; it's a sanctuary too," he gestured around the cave, "We're safe in here, Tracy."

"For now, at least. But I'm glad I'm with you through this, Travis, above all else," smling warmly, she hugged him firmly and whispered, "I love you, Travis," in his ear. Travis let out a deep, happy sigh and gave her another kiss, this time on her cheek. "See Holly, I told you coming up here would be for our benefit," she turned and happily told her friend, who was still hugging Max hard herself.

"Yeah, I guess it was in a way," Holly stared dreamily at a smiling Max, "We're the luckiest girls in all of Marshfield right now. Now all we have to do is get out of here and back home to Marshfield, and everything'll be perfect."

* * *

The first thought on Avor's mind as he stormed towards the blocked cave entrance was that perhaps he had summoned too big a fireball to try and stop the runaways. Not only was half the hillside burning from it now, but the local fire departments had showed up to put the blaze out, jeopardizing his operation. But none of the firefighters saw him as he strode past them. Bastor had granted him, upon his prayer for it, the protection of invisibility-as too the rest of his underlings, who he could see crouched behind several bushes with their "experiments." His frown returned as he approached Imperio. "You still couldn't get them despite everything!?" he told his adjutant sternly.

"Noxen has proven to be no help; he and the others are still out cold," Max's uncle hung his head sheepishly, "My blasted nephew and his friend and those girls are at least trapped in there, so once these people leave..."

"What's going on now?" came Noxen's gruff voice as he and his henchman came walking up behind them, still looking a little dazed from having been knocked out earlier, "Did you mention my name...?"

"Shhhhh!" Imperio growled yanking him down, "We may be invisible, but they can still hear us!"

"Sorry. And sorry about earlier, too; we had them, and those kids showed they were harder to..." Norman tried to apologize.

"Silence," Avor glared them all down. He glared back at the firefighters at work in front of them. "They had better leave quickly so we can get them; we're down to four hours now before we're doomed," he frowned impatiently through his mask at the other cult members, "Fortunately, I know how we can get to them when the time comes. You there," he singled out one of the cult members, "Track down the banetra if it is well; it can still be of use in this matter...


	10. Only One Got Out

"What's the time?" Max mumbled sleepily as Holly's watch beeped loudly next to him. Holly slowly raised it to her face and pressed the button to illuminate it. "Four thirty," she mumbled softly, staring at it through heavy eyelids.

"Good. No more than an hour and a half before sunrise," Max sounded relieved, yawning.

"Yeah, good," Holly shifted around in place under the unzipped sleeping bag from Max's backpack they were using as a blanket, resting her head against his upper chest. Max smiled down at her and gave her another kiss, this one on the forehead. "I love you," he told her again, gently stroking her hair.

"I love you too," she smiled back, yawning herself. "And take a look at those two," she nodded towards Travis and Tracy, who in the glow of the two flashlights illuminating the ledge, could be seen hugging each other underneath the blanket Max had loaned them from his packpack, large smiles on their own faces, "Don't the two of them make such a sweet pair themselves?"

"They do indeed," Max nodded, grinning, "Travis told me he never had any luck with girls; he tried to ask out a few he cared for, but they either shot him down, or he lost the nerve. He was starting to give up hope he'd ever find the right girl; it's clear that with Tracy, he has. Just like I found the right girl in you, Holly."

"Oh, I love it when you talk that way," she teased him, nuzzling closer into his chest as he hugged her tight. "Still, I'll be glad to get home. Like I said earlier, I'm not upset with Tracy, but this whole night has been a nightmare-apart from falling in love with you of course, Max. I don't think I appreciate my parents more than I do now, when it looked like I was going to die a few times. I just want to give the both of them the biggest hugs and kisses I can, then go to bed for a month and forget that everything about this night not connected with you ever happened."

"Yeah, I know how you feel, Holly; I love my mom and dad more today than any time before in my life; they're right when they say absence makes the heart grow stronger," Max sighed softly, "I used to think they intruded unfairly in my life; after being stuck in that asylum for all this time, I can see now it was only because they loved me, that they worried for me. The nightmare can only be over for me when I'm actually hugging them and telling them how sorry I am-and when I see you're home safe yourself, Holly."

He hugged her closer. "And as for that Halloween dance coming up you mentioned earlier, if you're looking for a date, I'd happily go out with you," he assured her warmly, "Just give me the time and directions, and we'll..."

He jerked upright as, in the far reaches of the cave from their location, a loud splash could be heard, almost like something slapping the water. "What was that!?" he glanced down the tunnel nervously.

"What's going on?" Tracy sleepily woke up and sat up herself.

"Don't go, please..." Travis reached for her.

"Shhhh!" she hissed at him, staring down the dark tunnel. After five minutes, however, no other sounds rang out. "Must not have been anything," she mumbled softly, "Probably a rock falling into the water. You guys doing OK-I can see you seem to be," she chuckled at Holly and Max's intimate sleeping arrangement.

"Oh we're just fine, Tracy; I'm perfectly safe with the great Maximillan the Brave protecting Princess Holly," she teasingly put an arm back around Max.

"Well, beautiful princess, if there's anything you need, ask and it shall be given," Max chuckled himself.

"How about another bedtime kiss, then, Sir Max?"

"As you wish, Princess," the two of them locked lips for another kiss. Tracy smiled warmly at them. "They're really special together, Travis," she turned back to her own new boyfriend.

"Yeah, they really are. But not as special as you, Tracy," he gently pulled her back into a strong hug under their blanket, "No one's more special than you in the whole world."

"Oh Travis," she sighed happily as the two of them leaned forward and kissed themselves, this one lasting well over a minute. "Oh Travis, I don't think anyone's ever made me feel as wonderful as you do," she told him, tears of joy streaming down her face again, "I didn't think anyone could be as sweet and kind to anyone as you are to me. You say it's a tragedy no other boys have tried and love me; it's just as much as shame the girls haven't fallen for you."

"Then I wouldn't have met you, would I, Tracy?" crying his own tears of joy, he kissed her again, on the cheek, "I could hug you forever without letting go if I could, Tracy; I'd give you every diamond, every precious gem in the world; I'd have you crowned as queen of the world; I'd give you everything you'd ever wanted in your life if I could; you deserve it as the most beautiful and sweetest angel in the world. That's really what you are, Tracy; an honest to God angel."

"Oh Travis," she sniffed in delight, and the two of them kissed again, this one lasting close to if not over two minutes. "I never knew a kiss could feel that wonderful," she stared dreamily into his eyes once it was done as he looked just as dreamily into hers, "I never knew I could feel such wonderful euphoria as I do in your arms, Travis. I wish we could hug each other forever and never let go."

"Well, let's not let go, for now anyway," he hugged her closer, so they were cheek to cheek. "Feeling better now about earlier?" he asked her softly, seeing Max and Holly had apparently drifted off to sleep across from them, still firmly in each other's arms.

"Yeah, sort of," Tracy nodded, "I'm still nervous that I'm going to have to face my parents over the fact that the brand new car they got for me five months ago is now a disassembled piece of junk, and wondering how they'll ever believe any of this about demon worshippers..."

"I'll help if you want," Travis offered her, "If you want me to stay over your house for a night..."

"Well, I don't know about that; given we've only known each other a few hours, my dad'll be a little skittish if we show any signs of intimacy. Still, I can't wait to hug him and Mom and tell them how much I love them; I really, really miss them now, and I feel bad that they're probably worried stiff for me."

She hesitantly looked in Travis's eye. "If it doesn't hurt too much, Travis, who do you think you'll end up with?" she asked him cautiously, "I hope you'll stay nearby in Slaytondale..."

"I think so, my aunt lives there too," Travis mumbled, looking glum again, "She'll take me in...although it certainly won't be the same without Mom..."

"I know, I know," Tracy gave him a kiss on the cheek, this one of sympathy. "So, you said you liked writing too, Travis," she closed her eyes, feeling exhausted at the moment, "What did you like to write?"

"Well, I've always had this dream of being a screenwriter," Travis confessed, "I know the odds are long, but I've dreamed of having a film up on the big screen; certainly it would be better than half the stuff they put out these days."

"That's pretty neat," she smiled, "What are some of your ideas?"

"Well...I had this one idea about this former corporate raider who goes to prison for white collar crimes, and when he gets out, destitute, he rides the rails with some hobos, determined to make up for his mistakes and make life better for average people. That's the main one at least. A couple earlier ones didn't work out, although Mom told me they had potential...she always did..."

He suppressed a low sob in the dark, but couldn't stop the next one from coming out in full force. "She always had faith in me even when I didn't have faith in myself," he cried softly, "Even if I thought I was bombing with a story idea, she'd tell me it was terrific-she'd always be encouraging me to put something out there. A week before...we last saw each other, she told me the hobo story could be a blockbuster. 'I just know you're going to be a wonderfully successful writer someday, Travis, from the bottom of my heart,' she told me, with that smile that made it clear she couldn't be prouder that I was her son no matter what if anything I got published...she really was one of my best friends...and now, nothing can change the fact that thanks to those animals in the asylum, she'll never smile at me or encourage me again..."

He broke down again. "I know, Travis," Tracy leaned closer to him, "If it's any comfort for you, I can guarantee that somewhere, she's still proud of you, even more so given you saved my life and Holly's life tonight. My mom always says, people who are truly loved never really die. She'll always be with you, whether you make it big or not. And if you do sell that script, or any script, you'll be giving her one terrific legacy."

"I really want to sell it, for her," he admitted, "I just don't know if the mountain can be climbed..."

"If you want any help, I'd be glad to give it to you, Travis; anything I can do to get that script published for her, I'll do it; I want to be a professional writer too, after all," she assured him, "Anything for my hero."

"And anything for my hero too, which you certainly are in more ways than one, Tracy," he kissed her on the cheek again, "Thank you so much; this is why you're an angel..."

Just then, an unmistakable growl rose up far down the tunnel, making all four teens bolt upright. "What was that!?" Holly looked panicked, "It can't be...!"

"It is," Max looked pale, staring worriedly down the tunnel, "I don't know how the banetra got in here, but it's here. We've got to move, now!"

He snatched up one of the flashlights, grabbed Holly's hand, and leaped off the ledge into the water. A louder, closer growl, accompanied by loud splashing, rang out, which was all that Tracy and Travis needed to jump off the ledge themselves, the other flashlight in hand, and charge after their friends, who were running through the water up the tunnel, away from the approaching creature. "Well, if it got in, that means there's got to be another entrance to this cave," Tracy theorized, nervously glancing back and seeing two pinpoints of red in the distance behind them, "We've just got to circle around and find it...!"

"I just wish there wasn't all this blasted water in here; it can zone in on all the splashing in a heartbeat!" Max muttered in frustration, "Come on, come on, give us some way out!" he muttered out loud, glancing in frustration at the solid cave walls in the dim glow of the flashlights; they, and the deep water they were splashing through, seemed to stretch on permanently into a void. The four of them reached a fork in the cavern. "Um, um...!" Max nervously glanced back and forth between the two branches, "Uh...!"

"Hurry, pal, just make a choice!" Travis nervously pleaded him as the splashing and huffing got louder behind them.

"Uh...right!" Max hustled down the right tunnel, "It just seems right...WATCH OUT!" he cried as the banetra, with a loud roar leaped and knocked Travis, at the back of the pack, down. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Tracy shrieked, grabbing a large rock nearby and flinging it at the beast's head.

"Go, Tracy, leave me; I want you safe!" he begged her, frantically pushing up on the banetra's head to keep it's jaws away from him.

"I'm not leaving without you!" she hurled another rock, making the banetra howl when it connected square with its head.

"None of us are!" Holly shouted, grabbing another rock and throwing it herself, as did Max, Howling from the multiple direct hits, the banetra slowly retreated backwards, releasing Travis, who crawled behind his friends to safety. "Keep it up; we'll force him back!" Tracy instructed them, straining to lift a larger rock. With all her strength, she flung it at the monster, where it also connected to its forehead, sending it stumbling hard into the wall...

...which started a low rumbling, and rocks falling from the ceiling. "Uh oh!" Tracy gulped, "This must be a weak section! Move, move!"

She grabbed Travis's hand and quickly pulled him along as the rocks fell with increasing frequency. The teens ran until the sound of falling rock grew distant behind them. Breathing heavily, they turned back and listened to a thunderous crashing sound as the tunnel caved in behind them, accompanied by a terrified yelp by the banetra as it presumably was buried. Slowly, the rumbling came to a stop, as did the yelping after some time. "That was close," Max breathed a huge sigh of relief, "You OK, Travis?"

"Yeah, just a bit scared there. But I'm OK, thanks to my hero, again," he pulled Tracy into another kiss.

"Wait," Holly held up her hand, a euphoric look on her face, "I think I can feel air on my cheek-that way!"

She pointed farther up the tunnel. "Yeah, I feel it too," Max exclaimed, "That means there's an entrance real close. Come on!"

"Thank God," Tracy sighed in relief, "I just knew there'd be a way out..."

"Right. See, everything turned out in the end," Travis rubbed her shoulder, "Now we just get to the highway and flag someone down..."

"There, there, stars!" Holly excitedly pointed up ahead, where indeed, the stars could be seen glistening through a narrow opening, "We found the way out...!"

"And we found you," came Joe's sudden, cold voice. The robber and his two henchman unepectedly stepped around the corner in front of the teens, bringing them to a sudden stop, horrified, "Our friends told us this was the other natural way out of this cave, so we just had to wait for you. "You're coming with us, and don't fight this time."

He grabbed Holly's wrist. She promptly bit his hand-as did Travis when Norman tried to seize him. "Run for the hole, Tracy!" he begged the girl of his dreams, grappling with Norman, "Don't worry about me this time!"

"But Travis...!"

"Go!" he all but pushed her out the hole into the cool night air. Tracy spun and immediately leaned back in. "Give me your hand, Holly!" she cried to her friend, grappling with Joe nearby, "I can...!"

Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind, and a hand smothered her mouth again. "No, you won't," hissed a cold, dark voice. A figure wearing an iron mask painted in the shape of a demonic face walked into her view: _Avor_. She shivered darkly, struggling to get out of her captor's grasp. "Don't fight it," he warned her, seizing her by the cheeks sharply, "I've had quite enough of you and the others tonight. Help them out," he ordered two of the other cult members out of the dozens that had gathered around the hole, pointing into the cave, where Tracy's friends could still be heard fighting hard with the robbers, "It's clear they can't..."

Suddenly, the sound of a shotgun discharging could be heard, followed by a loud rumbling and terrified cries inside the cave. Tracy froze in utter horror. No, it couldn't be happening, she thought desperately, not a cave-in on her friends...!"

But there was no mistaking the deafening rumble of rocks and the explosion of dust from inside the cave, which sent the cult members that had started to enter the hole scurrying backwards. And once both had stopped, Tracy's eyes bulged out of her head in horror to see the entrance was now completely sealed shut by rocks. "It's sealed off, Your Excellency," one of the cult members proclaimed himself, examining the blocked entrance.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. We have one of them, and one's all we need," Avor glared coldly at the horrified Tracy, "Bastor shall get his sacrifice tonight after all."

Tracy desperately kicked her captor in the chest, which was enough to make him let go of her. "HOLLY!" she shrieked hysterically, the tears flowing down her face in buckets as she rushed towards the blocked cave entrance and started frantically hurling rocks aside, "HOLLY! TRAVIS! DON'T BE...LET GO OF ME!" she shrieked as the cult forcibly dragged her away from the cave, "I CAN'T LEAVE THEM HERE TO...!"

Another gag was suddenly tied over her mouth from behind, silencing her. "Forget it, princess, if they're not dead already, they're never coming out," Imperio told her curtly as Tracy was flung onto a hospital gurney set up outside an old ambulance and rapidly strapped down to it despite her hard struggling, "And I say good riddance to my weak-hearted nephew anyway. We've got you, and you're all that matters now for ours and Bastor's sake."

"Indeed. Get her up and into the sacrifical chamber quickly," Avor ordered the cult, "We have only an hour left to make the sacrifice, or all is lost."

Tears flowed from Tracy's eyes in rivers as she was loaded rapidly into the back of the ambulance. Now her best friend and the two most caring boys she'd ever hoped to find were almost certainly dead, and this time it was completely her fault. If she'd only been faster in helping them to get out of there...!

But it was too late now, she acknowledged miserably as the ambulance sped off back towards the asylum. She was all alone now, and she was going to die horribly herself in no time...


	11. The End of Tracy Keefe?

Holly gasped as she burst up from under the mound of rocks that had cascaded down to the floor when the errant gunshot had caused the cave-in. She glanced worriedly around in the pitch darkness. Nothing was visible at all without a light source. "TRAVIS!? MAX!?" she cried out for the boys.

"Holly, right here!" she heard Max's voice, not more than ten feet away from her to the right, followed by more rocks being pushed aside. A low glow could be seen after a moment as Max extracted his flashlight from under the rocks. "Holly, are you all right!?" he asked worriedly, rushing for her and hugging her, "I thought that was the end for a moment...!"

"How about you, are you all right!?" she asked him with equal concern.

"I think so. Travis!?" Max cried out for his friend. A low cry, followed by the clattering of more rocks, revealed Travis's location right in front of them. "TRACY!" the blonde-haired boy screamed, charging straight towards where the hole out of the cave had been-which Holly saw with a broken heart was now just as completely blocked with rocks as the other entrance had been. This was little concern to Travis, however, who started frantically tossing rocks aside. "It's all my fault; I should have never pushed her out of her; now they've got her, they're going to sacrifice her; we've got to save her...!" he cried loudly, bordering on hysterics.

"Easy, pal, easy!" Max took him firmly by the shoulder, "It's not your fault they were waiting out there, Travis; how could any of us have known they'd be there!? We've got to stay calm if we're going to get out of here and...!"

Another groaning sound behind them could be heard; Joe and his men had survived the cave-in as well. Travis growled loudly, stormed over towards the silhouette of the rising figure, and hauled it up off the cave floor. "You!" he roared furiously at Noxen, "You got us buried in here, you delivered the girls over to those monsters, you wouldn't let us go when you knew we wanted to!"

"Travis, please!" Max begged him. Travis, though, wasn't listening. "This is for Tracy!" he roared punching him hard repeatedly.

"Get your hands off the boss!" Moose lunged towards him, but a furious Travis shoved Joe into the larger robber, sending them both tumbling to the floor. Noticing their gun lying nearby, Travis seized hold of it before a lunging Norman could. "Hands up!" he ordered all three men, who complied in shock.

"Put that down, boy!" Joe ordered him, "You think we're scared of you?"

"Well I'm not scared of you. And I'm going to tell you what: you're going to help us get Tracy out of there," Travis told him furiously.

"What makes you think we're going to do anything you say, boy?"

"Simple," Travis glared him down, "You've thrown your lot in with the cult. If Bastor doesn't get a victim by dawn, you might be destroyed too just like they will. And I don't think you're going to be willing to take that chance, are you?"

"Destroyed?" Norman was turning pale, "I never thought of that..."

"Come on Norman, he's bluffing!" Joe barked at him.

"Maybe not; I thought I overheard my uncle saying something like that to Avor a week or two ago," Max spoke up firmly, "So I think you're going to help us whether you like it or not."

"All this for some girl you've only known for a few hours!?" the gang leader growled in disgust, "You kids are crazier than I thought..."

"And that's more than enough time to know Tracy's the girl I want to be with for the rest of my life," Travis snapped at him, "And I won't let her be killed by those animals, period."

"And it's more than a few hours for me; Tracy's been my best friend for as long as I can remember," Holly spoke up, her voice crackling, "I can't imagine life without her; she's like a sister to me..." she sniffed loudly, then collected herself and stared sharply into the robbers' eyes, "Don't any of you have any feelings except self-preservation and greed!?"

"Um..." Norman did seem somewhat guilty by now. His boss, however, looked unrepentant. "What else is there in the world, girlie!?" he barked at her, "You see how much of a rat race the..."

"MY NAME IS HOLLY!" she roared at him, "And like Travis said, you're helping us save Tracy whether you want to or not!"

"Hey look," Max reached forward and grabbed something that had been hanging around Joe's neck. "Travis, look at this," he remarked, holding it up for his friend to see, "I think I've seen Avor using this talisman a couple of times. Maybe this is how they got in here."

"Yeah; we got it off the masked guy and used it to open another entrance with magic, while the rest of the cult waited by the other entrance for us and the creature to flush you out to them..." Moose started to explain.

"Shut up, Moose!" Joe bellowed at him, "Why don't you tell them the rest of the cult's secrets while you're at it!?"

"Thanks, that's all we needed to know for now. Give it a whirl, Max," Travis asked him, not taking his eyes or the gun off the thieves. Max took a deep breath and held the talisman towards the wall. With a low rumble, rocks started tumbling aside until another opening had appeared. "YES!" Max pumped his fist in delight. "You first, Holly," he gestured her towards the hole. Holly scrambled through it and breathed a sigh of relief to be standing above ground again. She turned back and extended an arm for Max to climb out. He in turn helped Travis out. "All right," the blonde-haired boy turned back to the robbers, "You're going to agree to this, or we'll leave you in here forever. Here's what's going to happen..."

* * *

Tracy was still sobbing hysterically as she felt the ambulance sliding to a stop back at the asylum. She didn't want to be sacrificed, but she felt like dying. Knowing her best friend and the sweetest boy in the world were dead was too much to bear.

She paid little attention as she was wheeled out of the ambulance and towards the asylum-too much was her grief. "I hate it when they can't take it at all," Inperio grumbled above her, glaring down at her. "Grow up, you little wretch," he barked at her, slapping her across the face, "You're serving a good cause here."

"Brother Imperio, it is all right," Avor held up a hand at him as the cultists wheeled Tracy back through the old door into the crumbling building, "Let the girl react any way she wishes in her last moments on earth. If she chooses to be a coward, let her be."

Tracy let out a loud burst of grief. She certainly felt like a coward. "_I should be dead in that cave with them!"_ she thought miserably to herself, _"Well, at least I'll be joining them again soon..." _

She glanced numbly at the ceiling tiles zipping along above her rapidly. The cult members lowered her rapidly down a long flight of stairs, down two flights to the bottom, and then through a set of heavy double doors. Tracy turned her head to get a glimpse of where she was being taken. Her eyes widened to see, in the dim lights of torches along the wall, a huge, hideous animalistic statue at the head of a stone slab near the back of the room-Bastor, she presumed. If the being was an actual dark deity, it was easy to be intimidated by its appearance alone. A cold chill ran down Tracy's spine. Guilty or not of her friends' deaths, she couldn't just give in and go quietly.

Her gurney was pushed alongside the stone slab. The moment the men started unstrapping her from the gurney, Tracy tried to rise up and get away, screaming at the top of her lungs into her gag in a desperate hope anyone was around to hear her. Dozens of hands lunged into her line of sight and held her forcibly down-too many for her to overcome. She was rolled onto the slab and was immediately strapped down to it from head to toe. Tracy's heart was pounding hard enough to be heard out loud, and her breaths were coming shorter and shorter, terror starting to overcome her. She glanced fearfully upwards. The mouth of the Bastor statue was wide open directly above her-almost as if something was meant to come spilling out of it onto her. She didn't want to find out what-but she couldn't move a muscle in her body to get away...

Screaming into the thick cloth silencing her again, she nonetheless thrashed around hard on the slab, even though she had no slack to work with, as the cultists surrounded it and started chanting out loud again. Her blood froze to see Avor walking towards her, a weathered book in one hand-from which he was loudly shouting out a chant in the strange language-and a large ornamental knife in the other...which he was raising high over her. _"No, don't, not that!"_ she shrieked into her gag, shaking her head frantically.

The knife descended in a flash-slashing Tracy's right cheek right above the gag. She shrieked in agony, whimpering as the blood was once again spread over her face. The chants were getting louder, and Tracy heard what sounded very much like something rumbling inside the statue behind her. She fearfully looked up...and saw a glow deep inside the statue's mouth-getting brighter by the second. Flames, she knew in horror, able to smell the smoke. She shut her eyes, unable to bear to watch, as the chanting around her reached a crescendo and she feel the heat building towards the back of her neck. At any moment, the flames were going to shoot out and burn her alive...


	12. A Second Escape from the Serpent's Den?

...when suddenly, there came a loud crumbling sound from above that made the cultists abruptly stop chanting. She opened her eyes again, and was surprised to see a hole opening in the ceiling as if by magic-and then suddenly, dozens of huge, deformed creatures came tumbling down through the hole, growling. "Back, back, no!" Imperio cried loudly, waving his arms before he was lost in a rush of snarling, growling crush of creatures, as too were many of the now screaming cultists. And amidst the tumult...

"Tracy!" came Travis's cry from above. Tracy's heart leaped to see him...and Holly and Max as well...leaping through the hole on the backs of two more creatures. She cried in delight into her gag and gestured wildly with her head for them to come to her. "Thank God we made it in time," Travis gasped ecstatically, rushing over towards her, "If they'd already sacrificed you...!"

He whipped off her gag and gave her a deep kiss. "Get me out of here, Travis!" she cried at him, "I'm glad to...!"

"Oh Tracy!" Holly all but leaped at her and gave her a strong hug, then started fumbling with the straps holding her best friend down. "Give me a hand, guys!" she shouted at the boys, who oblingingly lunged at the slab and started helping to unlock Tracy as fast as they could-at the same time Tracy could hear a furious Avor start up his chanting again, and could feel the heat starting to rise still yet again. "Hurry, hurry; he's starting the incantation to kill me again!" she whimpered impatiently, her eyes bulging.

"Just a few more seconds...almost got it...JUMP!" Travis grabbed Tracy in a flash and yanked her clean off the table the instant the last strap came undone-seconds before a huge ball of fire shot out of the Bastor statue's mouth and engulfed the slab, almost completely covering it with flames. "Oh, God, oh God, that was close!" Tracy whimpered tearfully, hugging everyone at once.

"Come on, hurry, let's go while they're preoccupied," Max waved the rest of them towards the door out of the sacrificial chamber-but Avor stepped into their path. "No you don't, not again!" he threatened them, raising his knife high, "Your blood will...!"

With a loud roar, Travis launched himself at the cult leader and knocked him to the ground, sending the knife flying. "This is for Mom, this is for everybody you've killed since you locked me up in here, and this is for trying to kill Tracy!" he all but screeched, punching away so hard that he knocked Avor's iron mask off, revealing to the other teens a hideously burned and scarred face underneath. Howling with shame, Avor pushed Travis off himself and scrambled towards the statue. "Get back; I'm not done with you...!" Travis lunged for him again.

"Travis, let it go, let's just get out of here!" Tracy pulled him back.

"Yeah, pal, come on!" Max also helped drag him out of the chamber, a stunned look on his face. "You got a little scary there, Travis," he confessed to his friend, "I've never seen you just explode like that, even before when he..."

"Sorry, buddy, everything just exploded up from since I came here; I guess I couldn't help but vent; same thing earlier in the cave, because I'd ordinarily never touch a gun," Travis confessed, looking a little stunned himself as they crested the stairs and burst out into the former asylum's first floor hallway. "But at least we made it time for Tracy," he pulled her close with another warm smile, "I couldn't bear to see..."

"Later, you two lovebirds; let's get going while the going's good," Holly urged them. She glanced out one of the barred windows on the other side of the hall. "And it looks like we're just in time; the sky's lighting up now."

"Sunrise. Good, then let's go, quick, real quick," Max nodded, taking off up the hallway towards where Tracy supposed the front entrance had been. "How you guys get out and get in here to get to me in time, and do everything you...?" she asked.

"With this," Max held up the talisman from around his neck, "Noxen's gang used it to get into the cave; we took it off them and used it to get out. Then we asked them to simply bring us up here, since they have a security pass, and then, since I memorized my uncle's codes for the system, opened the experimentation rooms to let out all their 'experiments,' then used the talisman to gain entry to the sacrificial chamber for us and them. Noxen and his cohorts are safely locked in the main office, so they can't stop us now-no stopping us now," he declared as they turned the corner to come within sight of the main entrance, the doors jammed wide open for them, and beyond, a strong glow of light blue in the eastern sky...

When suddenly, the floor exploded upwards in front of the teens. Suddenly, they were face to face with Avor-who was now eight feet tall, with glowing red eyes, bull horns, and wolf legs. "Uh oh!" Travis gasped in shock as the four of them started backing away in horror, "He must have...he couldn't have...!"

"Mortal fools!" Avor-Bastor roared, advancing towards them, "I, the great Bastor, am now one with my high priest on earth, and shall collect my tribute personally!"

"Uh, no thanks, we, uh, gave last month?" Max nervously stumbled out a weak excuse. Roaring, Avor-Bastor breathed a wall of fire behind the teens before they could run away, trapping them, then zapped them with dark red rays of energy from its eyes. "OH NO!" Holly shrieked, glancing down at her feet-which were now liquifying into a growing puddle. She and her friends were all melting from the dark magic, sinking terrifyingly downwards as the puddles that had been their lower bodies grew larger. "STOP, NO!" she pleaded the cult leader/god.

"The sacrifice shall be completed this way, now that your blood has been already been shed for me!" he growled darkly at his four terrified, melting victims, "I will now be stronger again...!"


	13. Sunrise

But suddenly, the beast let out a loud cry of anguish and started jerking around as if in agony. "What, what's...!?" Tracy asked out loud.

"He's too late," Max was grinning, gesturing with his head at the sun rising over the horizon behind him, "The offering wasn't made in time. Bastor's through on earth-just look," he pointed downwards, where the teens' bodies were now solidifying again back to normal, "He's lost his power to..."

"What was that!?" Holly asked out loud as a loud bang and crack rang out behind them. They turned to see a large hole opening in the floor not more than a hundred yards away. "Uh oh, I was afraid of this," Travis gulped, stumbling to his feet once he and his friends were completely back to normal, "Looks like the whole building's going to be destroyed too in the...!"

He let out a shriek as the room suddenly started spinning-literally spinning, as if it had suddenly become the edge of a whirlpool, with the now widening hole as the center of circulation. And in the depths of the hole, a burning hot fire could be seen. "Now what!?" Tracy cried, grabbing at the nearest wall as the room started tilting as well.

"I don't know, I don't know...wait, we can still reach the doors if we...JUMP!" Travis took her hand and leaped over Avor-Bastor, who was leaping towards the four of them in a rage, passing so close to them that the full horror of his facial burn damage could be seen by them. "Grasp for the the handles!" he cried out, looking worried himself, for the hallway was now at an almost ninety degree angle over the swirling, fiery hole. "Got it!" Holly had to shout to be heard over the roar, holding desperately onto one of the door handles with one hand and Max's hand with the other, "I don't...!"

Max cried out again, for Avor-Bastor had grabbed his and Tracy's legs and was starting to pull them-and by extension Holly and Travis, down. "You will not escape!" he shouted in a mixture of rage and fear, "You ruined me, but I will take you with me to the far beyond, forever prisoners in my world...!"

But fortunately, it was then that the force of the whirlpool effect shattered the doors' glass, which cascaded into the man-demon's face, blinding him and distracting him enough to release his grip on the teens' legs. Before he could recover, the whirlpool effect dragging him away from them, screaming at the top of his lungs, down into the hole. The building started collapsing and tumbling into the hole, accompanied by the screams of the cultists elsewhere in the former asylums and their creatures, who had no hope of escaping the maelstrom. "Just...have...to get...outside...I hope...!" Travis strained to lift Tracy's hands up to the cusp of the doorway, as did Holly with Max's hands. Straining with all their might, they just managed to pull themselves over the edge and crawled desperately away from the whirpool as quickly as they could, ducking the remaining living vines, which were being pulled into the vortex as well. Finally, they reached the safety of the gate and barrelled through it, not stopping until they were a good five hundred feet away. Stopping to catch their breaths, they turned and watched solemnly as the asylum collapsed spectacularly into the hole, which slid shut behind it, denying that anything had ever been there. "It's over," Max breathed a deep sigh of relief, "They're gone for good. We're free," he shook Travis's hand enthusiastically.

"Yeah, free. It never felt so good," Travis exhaled, relieved himself. "I did it, Mom; I survived," he mumbled to the brightening morning sky, "I hope you're proud I made it."

"Oh I know she's proud, Travis," Tracy squeezed his hand with a warm smile, "As am I."

"Tracy..." he pulled her close into another deep kiss. Max did the same with Holly. "Well, Tracy, we didn't quite get the big story-at least no story anyone would believe-but I think we got something even better out of this," the brown-haired girl sighed happily to her friend once they finally broke the kiss about a minute later. Still kissing Travis, Tracy merely flashed Holly a thumbs-up...

...but then broke it herself with a stunned expression. "Hey, they managed to escape; they're getting away!" she exclaimed, pointing down the road toward the direction of the farmhouse she and Holly had been held prisoner in earlier. For the thieves had managed to escape the building and were running towards the woods. "Hey, stop!" Max roared, rushing after them...

...only to be blindsided by another figure leaping out of the bush who had managed to escape the disaster. "You ruined everything, boy!" Max uncle roared, drawing a huge knife, "Everything I worked for, the man and being I've given my life to, destroyed, and it's all you and your filthy friend's fault-stay back!" he warned the other teens when they started forward, holding the blade to his nephew's neck, "I'm finishing him, and you can't stop it, and then I'll...!"

But he stopped at the sound of sirens coming up Terrell Mountain Road. Gulping, the now former Imperio dropped the knife and took off running, but it was too late; three state highway patrol cruisers zoomed over the hill. "There, there!" Max pointed to the lead cruiser, gesturing at his uncle, barrelling after the thieves into the woods.

"Hold it right there!" several state troopers poured out of the cruisers and gave chase to the fugitives. "What happened up here?" another rushed up to the teens, "We got reports of explosions going on up here..."

"Um,..." Max exchanged glances with his friends, "It's a long story..."

"But the long and short is, we were all kidnapped," Holly chimed in for him, nodding in satisfaction to see the other troopers catch up with the fugitives and wrestle them to the ground, "Those men are the people who've been pulling off the robberies all over the county; they grabbed Tracy and me and held us prisoner in that farmhouse there-and wait, my camera should still be on the ground over there," she pointed emphatically towards the farmhouse in question, "That and the latest stolen goods in the farmhouse; that should be enough to convict."

"Travis and Max were kidnapped too, by the people the thieves were working with," Tracy chimed in, "They were going to kill all of us..."

"Don't listen to anything those kids say; they're lying their heads off!" Noxen roared as he and his associates were dragged, handcuffed back towards the cruisers, "It's all a...!"

"Oh shut up, it's over!" Norman growled at his boss. "I'll tell you everything," he told the trooper holding his arm, "I want no part of what they've done anymore."

Growling in fury, Noxen kicked at Norman as they and Moose were loaded into one of the cruisers. The former Imperio managed only a furious glare at his nephew and his friends as he was loaded in as well. "Hey Cap," one of the troopers came up to the apparent leader of the police, "There's a whole lot jewelry bags in that farnhouse; looks like everything that was stolen from Beitzel's Jewelry Store the other day. Looks like these kids are on the level."

"Go look for a camera lying around outside, then," the captain directed him. "Wasn't there the remains of the old asylum back here...?" he glanced confusedly at the now empty space behind the crumpled asylum gates.

"It's kind of another long story, sir," Travis told him gently.

"Well come on along with us and tell us everything, kids," he gestured them towards the open door of an unoccupied cruiser. Nodding, the teens climbed into the back seat and breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief. "We're going home," Holly exhaled happily, leaning her head into Max's chest.

"Home," he agreed, pulling her into an outright hug, "It never felt so good to go there."

"Yep," Tracy agreed, hugging Travis as well, "All's well that ends well...especially with the most wonderful boy in the world by my side..."

She leaned up again as the troopers climbed into the front seat and started the engine. "OK kids," the one in the front passenger seat turned to them as the cruiser started forward down the mountain, away from the now-gone horrible building, "Tell me exactly what happened..."

THE END...?


End file.
